Sikkim INSPIRES(Integrated Service Provision and Innovation for Reviving Economies) Program

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Sikkim Integrated Service Provision and Innovation for Reviving Economies (INSPIRES) is an initiative of the GoS supported by the World Bank (WB). It involves a pan-economy, pan-government approach to deliver improved economic opportunities for women and youth.

Sikkim INSPIRES is supported by the WB under two financing modalities:

1. Program for Results (PforR).
2. Investment Project Financing (IPF).

The PforR Program with an estimated value of US$216.40 million includes selected state schemes and activities focused on skilling, entrepreneurship, mental health services, care services and rural tourism. The PforR Program expenditures are largely around operational costs, technical support, salaries, and last-mile infrastructure development. The WB contribution through PforR financing will be US$92 million - this would entail achievement of defined results for accessing the earmarked funds. In addition, the WB will also support a US$9.75 million IPF component (this includes US$2.0 million contribution by GoS) and a front-end fee of US$ 0.25 million.

This document refers to both the PforR and IPF parts of Sikkim INSPIRES together as ‘INSPIRES Program’ or just as ‘Program’.

The theory of change for Sikkim INSPIRES is presented below.

Program Scope

The INSPIRES Program will support the GoS efforts to boost economic inclusion of women and youth. The Program proposes to address growth and governance bottlenecks to economic inclusion through:

1. Expanding and deepening strategy, planning, and coordination capacity at the state level to engage across departments and levels of governments and with the private sector on inclusive growth.
2. Focusing investments in short-term skills training for non-cognitive skills, digital readiness, socio-emotional skills, and placement support in priority sectors.
3. Facilitating growth orientation for women-led and youth-led enterprises in non-farm and priority sectors through financial, technical, and business development support, linking own-account establishments (OAEs)/household enterprises with SMEs and encouraging new enterprises to move in service-/manufacturing-oriented segments within priority sectors.
4. Strengthening the delivery of enabling services in mental health, digital readiness, mobility, and care services. The targeted recipients or end-users are women (18–59 years), youth (18–35 years) and adolescents (10-19 years) of Sikkim.

Source	Amount (US$, millions)	Percentage of Total
Counterpart funding	126.40 (124.40 PforR and 2.0 IPF)	56
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)	100.00 (92.00 PforR, 7.75 IPF; 0.25 million IBRD front-end fee)	44
Total Program financing	226.40	100

Program Development Objective (PDO)

The PDO is to promote economic inclusion opportunities for women and youth in non-farm sectors.

The PDO level results indicators are as follows:

• Strengthened state systems to support employment outcomes for women and youth
• Enhanced entrepreneurship in priority sectors for women and youth (18-35 years)
• Female and male trainees employed in priority sectors (disaggregated by sex)
• Creation of a comprehensive care and workplace safety system

 

Program Result Areas

The Program will support three RAs that will contribute towards the achievement of the Program Development Objective (PDO). These are

1. Strengthened state systems to deliver inclusive growth.
2. Improved employment linkages for women and youth in priority sectors.
3. Enhanced delivery of enabling services for the economic inclusion of women and youth.

Results Area 1: Strengthened state systems to deliver inclusive growth.

 To achieve this, RA1 will incentivize coordination, evidence-based planning, partnerships with private sector and other non-state actors, and strong monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems. Specifically, it will enable the following results:

• State Level Inclusive Growth and Economic Inclusion Strategy developed: The Program will support the development of an Inclusive Growth Strategy for Sikkim (2027-2037).
• The strategy will include mechanisms to attract private sector investments, identify priority interventions to enable a workforce that is work ready for priority sectors, and focus on addressing barriers to employment especially for women. The Strategy will be supported by a Common Results Matrix with measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) on employment and entrepreneurship and an implementation roadmap with clear roles and responsibilities for stakeholders, and accountability mechanisms. 

• Employment and Entrepreneurship Promotion Facility established: The Program will establish an Employment and Entrepreneurship Promotion Facility to design and drive the state’s Inclusive Growth Strategy (2027-2037). The Facility, under the Planning and Development Department (PDD), will accelerate employment and entrepreneurship outcomes in Sikkim through.

1. High level strategic partnerships to support the State’s Inclusive Growth.
2. A mechanism for innovative and flexible investments guided by the Common Results Matrix.
3. Outreach and promotion. Specifically, the Facility will support the following:   
   1. Partnerships for Innovations: The Facility will drive an “Inclusive Growth Alliance” with businesses, national government agencies international governments (building on the GoS’s existing partnerships with the Governments of Japan and of South Korea), multi-lateral development partners, and civil society organizations that represent the voices of women and youth. The partnerships will be through non-financial engagement tools– consultations with business associations, policy dialogue events, technical advisory support, corporate social responsibility (CSR) support, etc. The Facility will motivate policy dialogues to identify ways in which the state can work with the private sector to understand and address barriers to investment and market-development, which is essential to improving the state’s revenue generation ability in the medium-term. The Facility will enable GoS to explore partnerships with established agencies such as the North-East Development Finance Corporation (NEDFI).
   2. Investment for Impact: The Facility will provide benefits to attract social enterprise development (defined as nurturing MSMEs) and impact investing (defined as the placement of capital into local enterprises, institutions, business associations and other aggregate structures in priority sectors to create benefits beyond financial return). Examples include an exclusive online marketplace that sources creative products from women and youth enterprises in Sikkim, the promotion of products by women and youth entrepreneurs in national and international markets, digitally enabled migration support and philanthropic investments to develop local products etc.
   3. Integrated solutions for employment: Under this, the Facility will support the delivery of benefits and holistic support required across wage employment and entrepreneurship. Interventions financed will include.
      1. Upstream information about job roles and occupations in priority sectors, behavior change and communication outreach (including for beneficiaries of the One-Family One Job Scheme) and aspiration management.
      2. Intermediation for national and international job searches (counselling, profiling, and job search assistance).
      3. Work readiness structured bootcamps with potential private sector employers, language courses, digital literacy.
      4. Support to work retention: mentorship Programs for female trainees and safety at the workplace interventions for women entrepreneurs and homestay owners.  

Results monitoring and evaluation system strengthened: The Program will enable the PDD in strengthening its information cell to better monitor results for multi-sectoral and multi-level Programming, and to strengthen accountability and transparency across results areas, through community-level dashboards, feedback loops that consistently capture voices of women and youth across priority sectors and investments. To complement this, RA-1 will support the state government in designing and developing a social protection delivery platform (CBP) which will enable the government to transition to a more pro-active governance and delivery of scheme benefits and services. The proposed platform will adhere to the recently passed Data Protection Bill. RA-1 will support the adoption of an integrated MIS approach enabling the state and district authorities to identify end-users for economic inclusion Programs. The MIS will track groups by demographic parameters including disability status, social groups, rural/urban and education qualifications.  The integrated MIS approach will accelerate digitization of selected scheme datasets and will lead to better analytics.

Results Area 2: Improved employment linkages for women and youth in priority sectors. RA2 will complement existing state government initiatives on skills training and entrepreneurship support through.

1. Targeted investments to expand short-term skills training offered in priority sectors.
2. Training to placement support.
3. Entrepreneurship development including OAE to SME linkages.
4. Enterprise support in non-farm sectors and priority sectors for women and youth. Specifically, it will enable the following results:

Increased supply of quality short-term skill development programs in priority sectors:

To address skills mismatch, the Program will support rolling-out of high quality, short duration skilling courses in priority sectors. The RA will plug the financing gap in short-term skills training in priority sectors, strengthen the placement of skill development course graduates, through Niyukti Kendra and help Sikkim bridge inefficiencies due to geographic isolation, remoteness, and low economies of scale. The RA will support virtual and blended career counselling and placement sessions for trainees, intensive virtual and in-person support for female trainees to increase uptake of non-traditional job roles, migration support (three to six months) to enable women and youth to benefit from employment opportunities outside of Sikkim, mobility allowance and reskilling options for female trainees and youth neither in education, employment, nor in training (NEET) in priority sectors.

Strengthened capacities of state skill development institutions to deliver training to placement linkages:

Capacity constraints have led to underutilization of the key state skill development institutions such as State Institute of Capacity Building (SICB), Livelihood Schools, State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD), Institute Hotel Management (IHM), Indian Himalayan Centre for Adventure and Eco-tourism (IHCAE), and District Industries Centers (DICs). The Program will support strengthening these state institutions to meet applicable national accreditation and recognition requirements, run new courses in priority sectors, enhance digital monitoring systems, strengthen post-training follow-up with trainees, adopt digital technology, strengthen infrastructure, etc. New training courses (either as part of existing training programs or as new training programs) will be identified and developed based on market relevance and nationally recognized accreditation requirements. The Program will also support IT- enabled refresher training programs delivered through online and/or interactive voice response mechanisms for individuals who have already undergone Entrepreneurship Development Programs organized by DICs, SICB, and/or Livelihood Schools.

Strengthened effectiveness of financial support and business development services to entrepreneurs in non-farm and priority sectors:

The Program will strengthen the results orientation of existing schemes, including targeting women and youth entrepreneurs with a focus on non-farm and priority sectors. The RA will facilitate transition of women and youth entrepreneurs towards service-oriented segments within priority sectors. Key interventions would complement financial support channeled through central and state government schemes through:

1. Entrepreneurship promotion, which includes creating awareness and knowledge of different entrepreneurship opportunities in priority sectors.
2. Complementary support for state government’s homestay schemes, which includes construction of homestays and building of management capacities of homestay owners/managers.
3. Easy and affordable access to finance, (including digital payment tools) to set up, run and grow the business.
4. Training in technical, business development, digital marketing and socio-emotional skills (practical experience, confidence, management and leadership).
5. Networking from industry experts to guide and incubate budding entrepreneurs, particularly young female entrepreneurs, and for peer networking.
6.  Market linkages with domestic and global markets.
7. One-stop virtual shops where OAEs and/or micro enterprises can access registration support, information, TA, and explore linkages with local businesses.

The Program will facilitate the creation of an Innovation Hub that will offer incubation services for early-stage enterprises, including fostering inter-state partnerships (e.g., with We Hub in Telangana, Startup Tamil Nadu, etc.). The Innovation Hub will offer incubation and acceleration services to enterprises in the priority sectors and other non-farm sectors through partnerships with reputed academic or technical or business institutions that have a track record in enterprise and cluster development.

The scale of civil works under RA2 will be limited to refurbishment and digital upgradation of SICB, select livelihood schools and common facilitation centers, as per the financial ceilings and E&S exclusion criteria specified in the POM. Support to ecotourism and imparting transferrable skills in renewable energy sectors will help the state better manage tourism-induced stress and expedite transition to net zero, thereby cumulatively mitigating climate change risks.

Results Area 3: Enhanced delivery of enabling services for the economic inclusion of women and youth.

RA3 will incentivize delivery of enabling services to promote economic inclusion outcomes for women and youth through Integrated Economic Inclusion Action Plans (IEIAPs) at the district level.[1] Specifically, it will enable the following results:

1. District level Integrated Economic Inclusion Action Plans implemented: Through IEIAPs, RA3 will support the coordinated implementation of economic inclusion across levels of government, through convergence with existing and planned government schemes and initiatives. Based on the strategic investment priorities identified in the state’s Inclusive Growth Strategy, the district level action plans will focus on the convergence of investments, finance interventions to be implemented over a four-year timeframe in the following areas:
   1. 1. Promotion of locally-driven rural tourism (e.g., bird watching, insect watching, bee keeping, etc.) and entrepreneurship based on whole-of-community engagement with a special focus on women and youth.
      2. Ecotourism.
      3. Strengthening of Joint Forest Management Committees and Eco-Development Committees.
      4. Comprehensive business support to women-led/managed businesses and youth entrepreneurs and collectives in non-farm sectors.
      5. Enhanced transport options for women and youth.
      6. Upgradation and maintenance of community-level last-mile minor infrastructure such as roads, as per financial ceiling and E&S exclusion criteria. Under this RA, district IEIAPs will ensure bottom-up citizen engagement—especially with women and youth—in the development of the IEIAP and will strengthen social accountability mechanisms through its implementation.

 

Program Expenditure Framework

A Program expenditure framework highlighting the key departments, their activities under the Program, and its financial leverage is summarized as under:

Sl. No.	Department	Budget Heads – Broad Groups	Five-Year Expenditure Projection (US$, million)
			Y1	Y2	Y3	Y4	Y5	Total
1	Planning and Development	Salaries – HO and State Statistical Agency	0.48	0.51	0.54	0.57	0.59	2.69
		Support for work readiness programs/bootcamps	4.00	4.00	3.00	4.00	4.00	19.00
2	Commerce and Industries	Salaries and admin – HO, BTC, DHH, DIC	2.49	2.61	2.74	2.88	3.03	13.75
		Skilled Youth Startup scheme	1.27	1.33	1.39	1.46	1.54	6.99
		Strengthening capacity of DIC, subsidized financing and technical support to entrepreneurs	2.00	2.00	2.00	3.00	3.00	12.00
3	Information Technology	Existing schemes for internet connectivity improvement and MIS	0.11	0.11	0.12	0.12	0.13	0.59
		IT and MIS initiatives	2.00	2.00	2.00	3.00	3.00	12.00
		Salaries	0.18	0.18	0.19	0.20	0.22	0.97
4	Skills Development	Salaries and admin – HO and ITI	0.63	0.67	0.70	0.73	0.77	3.50
		Strengthening of SICB, skilling infrastructure, short-term courses	2.00	2.00	2.00	3.00	3.00	12.00
		Grant to SICB	0.24	0.26	0.27	0.28	0.30	1.35
5	Rural Development	Grant to SIRD	0.83	0.88	0.92	0.97	1.01	4.61
		Salaries and admin – WSS, RDD, BAC	0.71	0.74	0.78	0.82	0.87	3.92
		Strengthening of SIRD	1.00	2.00	2.00	2.00	3.00	10.00
		Community and rural development – Infra state funded	2.22	2.33	2.44	2.57	2.69	12.25
6	Tourism and Civil Aviation	Salaries	1.02	1.07	1.13	1.18	1.24	5.64
		Grant to IHM and IHCAE	0.80	0.84	0.88	0.92	0.96	4.40
		Construction of homestays	3.16	3.32	3.49	3.66	3.85	17.48
		Strengthening capacity of IHM and IHCAE, branding/ marketing of tourism sector, developing capacity of HS owners	2.00	2.00	2.00	3.00	3.00	12.00
7	Women and Child Development	Salaries	0.51	0.53	0.56	0.59	0.61	2.80
		Strengthening of infrastructure for short-term rehabilitation courses	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	5.00
		AAMA scheme	7.84	8.24	8.65	9.08	9.53	43.34
8	Forest Department	DET – salaries	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.03	0.03	0.12
		Strengthening of village level communities for promoting eco-tourism, including branding	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	5.00
9	Health and Family Welfare	Intervention in care and mental health to improve delivery of enabling services	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	5.00
Total Sikkim INSPIRES Program (P)			38.51	40.64	40.82	47.06	49.37	216.40
IBRD Share – PforR component			16.00	17.00	16.00	21.00	22.00	92.00
GoS share – IPF component			0.37	0.38	0.40	0.42	0.43	2.00
IBRD Share – IPF component			1.00	1.00	2.00	2.00	1.75	7.75
Total Sikkim INSPIRES Project (IPF component)								9.75