LAHORE – The British Asian Trust, founded by His Majesty King Charles III and leading British Asian business leaders, and the Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF), Pakistan’s most prominent skills development fund, signed a landmark agreement at the British Deputy High Commission in Karachi.
The signing formalized their partnership to build Pakistan’s first Employment Impact Bond. Mr. Martin Dawson, Deputy Head of Mission, hosted the event.
The human capital constraint is critical for Pakistan’s slow economic growth and low global competitiveness. With over four million youth becoming working-age in Pakistan each year, equipping them with future-ready skills can be a powerful driver of economic advancement in the country. The Employment Impact Bond is being designed to ensure 40,000 jobs for young people in key growth sectors, drive a focus on long-term employment outcomes, and unlock new capital to fund social impact in Pakistan.
Impact bonds are innovative financing instruments that leverage private sector capital and expertise for development, focusing on achieving results. Through financial incentives, they shift the focus from inputs to outcomes, performance, and results.
Global interest in this initiative has already led to the British Asian Trust and PSDF being awarded design funding from the Outcomes Accelerator created by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and UBS Optimus Foundation and managed by Levoca. The design of the impact bond will draw on successful examples from global contexts. It will benefit from the British Asian Trust and PSDF’s shared expertise in innovative finance and skilling.
Kamyla Marvi, British Asian Trust Pakistan Director, said, “This partnership with PSDF marks a significant milestone in our efforts to drive employment for the youth of Pakistan. We are excited to bring international expertise to support the local design of the country’s first impact bond for employment. We genuinely believe that this is an opportunity to transform Pakistan’s development finance approach, leading to greater innovation, efficiency and scale.”
At the signing ceremony, Ali Akbar Bosan, COO PSDF, said, “This pioneering initiative represents a revolutionary approach to funding skills training, set to transform the landscape of skilled workforce development. The feasibility study will evaluate the Employment Impact Bond’s potential impact, scalability, and financial viability, laying the foundations for future programs. This first-of-its-kind venture in Pakistan is our commitment to innovative solutions that address the pressing need for skilled labor, promising a significant shift in how skills training programs are financed and implemented.”
Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) is dedicated to vocational training and skill development by equipping the local workforce with market-relevant skills. Over the past 13 years, PSDF has funded the training of over 650,000 young people, 42% of whom are female. PSDF collaborates with over 600 training providers from government bodies, the private sector, and international organizations to implement a wide range of training programs in more than 250 trades across 2,500 training locations across Pakistan.
The British Asian Trust is recognized as a pioneer in social finance instruments such as impact bonds in South Asia, is regarded as a global leader, and has extensive experience securing employment outcomes. The Trust has used its expertise to build the market for innovative financing and grow impact investment opportunities in Pakistan, leveraging learnings from past and ongoing work in the region, strong relationships with international funders and investors, and deep connections with the UK diaspora and the in-country Pakistan Advisory Council.
