Giving Compass' Take:

• The Anudip Foundation is a nonprofit social enterprise in India that is empowering women through digital skill building trainings.

• What is successful in this model and how what features make it sustainable?

• Read about what philanthropy can do for social enterprises.

India, the world’s second-most populous country, has struggled with high poverty rates.  More than half of its 1.25 billion people live in villages and work in agriculture. However,  the country’s fragmented land holdings are no longer able to support its burgeoning population.

For India, this presents a major problem. Unemployment remains high, particularly among educated rural youth, approximately 100 million of whom are jobless or underemployed, meaning they are overqualified for the positions they hold.

Buddhadev Mondal was one of these youth. Growing up in the state of West Bengal as the son of a tea-stall owner, Mondal had big plans.

He heard about a training center run by the Anudip Foundation, a nonprofit social enterprise that aims to empower at-risk youth and women through digital skill development. Mondal enrolled in a program at the center — one of more than 100 that Anudip operates across India — where he not only learned information and communication technology (ICT) skills, but also worked on his English language and job preparedness capabilities.

Anudip, supported by international technology company Cisco with both funding and expertise, has trained more than 85,000 young people since it was founded in 2007, and has placed 75% of its students over the years in jobs with more than 300 employers. In some regions of India, Anudip represents one of the only ways that young people can create the chance to break the cycle of poverty.

Anudip is changing lives by reducing poverty and increasing the health, safety, and general well-being of India’s youth, while simultaneously helping to close the skills gap faced by employers worldwide.

Read the full article about Anudip at Global Citizen