The Dignified Jobs Collaborative Report has been published!

In partnership with 60 Decibels, we have conducted a survey on the quality of jobs of 989 direct and indirect jobholders of Small and Growing Businesses in India. Our findings highlight the deep impact being created by these companies alongside being profitable.

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Key Findings from the Dignified Jobs Report

Our findings from the Dignified Jobs Collaborative report highlight the pivotal role early-stage companies play in creating dignified jobs. Providing adequate support to these companies is essential to empower their jobholders and help them break the cycle of poverty.

  • Adrian Ackeret, Partner & Chief Investment Officer, elea

    “As a philanthropic impact investor, elea’s purpose is to fight absolute poverty with entrepreneurial means. Creating decent livelihoods for people living in rural communities lies at the core of our priorities. The results of Oorja’s impact study demonstrate that successful solutions are tailored to the local context, not only offering additional income but also strengthening communities they work with. This study exemplifies the potential elea sees in our participation in the Dignified Jobs Collaborative as an opportunity to explore, articulate, and compare innovative approaches to building transformative paths out of poverty.”

  • S3IDF

    “Our partnership with the DJC has helped us better contextualize and understand the results of our investments on financial resilience, job security, and job satisfaction. These insights have helped us refine our theory of change as an impact-first investor. The DJC report also fills a critical data gap and creates a valuable benchmark for other stakeholders committed to creating dignified and high-quality jobs.”

  • Jabir Karat, Co-Founder, Green Worms

    "At Green Worms, we're not merely addressing the waste crisis, we're also dedicated to reducing poverty. Our team plays a pivotal role as change agents on the ground, facilitating the shift towards a Circular Economy. Simultaneously, their well-being stands as a vital component of our collective mission. We ensure safety, dignity, and fair wages reach every member of our workforce, right to the last mile.”

  • Oorja

    “Despite agriculture being India's largest employer and generating a sizable share of GDP, most farmers face extreme poverty and are often forced to migrate to cities. Oorja hires farmers as Operators for its solar assets - to help them gain additional income and make progress towards SDG8 to reduce rural poverty and migration through sustainable rural employment. We are glad that our Operators have responded positively to the impact study, and said that the job is helping them learn relevant skills and gain more confidence.”

  • Prashanth Venkataramana, CEO & Co-founder, Essmart

    “Dignified Jobs matter to Essmart because it is at the heart of Essmart’s mission to bring technology that helps rural occupations become less burdensome and more efficient. Our focus on creating impact across different product categories makes impact measurement a challenge, however an inclusive view through better quality jobs and rural productivity is something we have focused upon. Many of the findings from the survey have been useful to substantiate our work for eg., in increasing income for retailers and has also provided the areas where we can improve ourselves. Thank you for having Essmart be a part of this study.”

  • Girish Agarwal, M&E Consultant, ReCircle

    “Waste is the next gold and ReCircle accords similar dignity to jobholders in the sector. Our belief in ethical circularity goes beyond waste management and recovery to focus on mainstreaming the power of informal waste workers or Safai Saathis — who are the backbone of ReCircle. We are delighted to share that the qualitative and quantitative findings from the survey positively substantiate our belief."

About the Dignified Jobs Collaborative Report

Rooted in the Global South, the Dignified Jobs Collaborative focuses on improving job quality in the predominantly informal jobs created through Small and Growing Businesses (SGBs). We launched in March 2023 with seven mission-aligned investors in India who committed to benchmarking the quality of jobs created by SGBs for people in extreme poverty. A survey of nearly 1,000 jobholders across portfolios was commissioned with the 60 Decibels team for a collaborative and transparent assessment of quality jobs indicators.

Our ambition is to use this data as building blocks to unlock capital that incentivizes businesses and investors to create high-quality jobs for the underserved and, in the process, establish the vital link between profit and purpose.