NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

The/Nudge Foundation, a Nandan Nilekani- backed non-profit focussed on sustainable poverty alleviation, has received a $250,000 grant from The Rockefeller Foundation, one of the largest and oldest names in global development philanthropy. The firm will use the grant to build organisational capacity, and expand its reach outside of Karnataka.

Since 2015, The/Nudge’s 11 ‘Gurukuls’ have helped place 1,583 underprivileged youth through a rigorous, fully residential programme aimed at job and life-readiness. The youth earn an average of ₹11,500 a month.

At present, he students are offered specialisations across four livelihoods — driving, beauty, plumbing and data entry — with placements at the end of the programme. The organisation has achieved 100 per cent job placements for all its graduates to date. While 60 per cent of the students were unemployed at the time of enrolling, the ones previously employed saw an average increase of almost 40 per cent in wages.

Photo courtesy of Paul Falardeau.