About
Actis Acts is Actis’ relaunched foundation for supporting charitable activities. It has been established as a UK Charitable Incorporated Organization in 2017 with the purpose of providing grants for:
- Charitable activities linked to investee companies
- Partnerships with charities operating in Actis countries
- Local charities nominated by Actis offices
The program aims to initially commit to a total of US$300k in new grants per calendar year. Grants will be funded from the Actis balance sheet. Actis Acts is governed by regulations around the use of funds, due diligence practices, monitoring and reporting under UK Charities laws.
To learn more about Actis, please visit www.act.is.
Selection Criteria
Actis Acts has a broad mandate to provide funding to support a wide variety of themes, including education, gender, skills development, entrepreneurship, capacity building, health, environment, financial inclusion and provision of essential infrastructure, among others.
All of the merits of each project will be taken into consideration before an award is granted. The key selection criteria include the following five dimensions, which help guide our understanding of a project’s impact on society and the environment.
What?
What outcome does the effect relate to, and how important are they to the people or environment experiencing it? What is the overall desired impact outcome (e.g., improve health, empower females, job readiness training, etc.)?
How much?
How much of the effect occurs in the time period, and are the benefits sustainable and/or scalable? Is the impact marginal or deep, short term or long term, benefiting a few or many?
Who?
Who experiences the effect, and how underserved (e.g., marginalised groups, disadvantaged groups, youth, women/girls, indigenous people, etc.) are they in relation to the outcome?
Contribution
How does the effect compare and contribute to what is likely to occur anyway (i.e., does Actis Acts’ contribution provide additionality)?
Risk
Which risk factors are material, and how likely is the effect to be different from expectations?
Source: Impact Management Project
Case Study
Garden City Technical Training Centre
Kenya’s construction industry output has risen on average 13% year on year since 2014. There is an estimated gap of about 30,000 engineers, 90,000 technicians and400,000 artisans, with the shortage of mid-level technicians and artisans hampering the country’s economic growth prospects. At the same time, Kenya is experiencing high youth unemployment; 80% of those unemployed are below the age of 30.
I am grateful to Actis and Arc Skills for granting me this training opportunity. I have learnt a great deal and now I can offer quality work for my employer. I also feel like I am at a place of higher advantage of securing jobs because I am now a certified artisan. This training has opened my eyes to new possibilities and I hope to further my education and make my dreams a reality.
Kevin Ombogo,a beneficiary of the training
As a prominent Real Estate investor Actis sought to contribute towards the growth and quality of the construction industry, helping bridge the skills gap by partnering with ArcSkills to offer internationally accredited training to 300 young people selected from different community-based organizations in the informal settlements around the Garden City Mall in Nairobi. The mode of training is practical and modular, with the entire training taking place on live construction sites. Pictures below are from the graduation ceremony for the first 130 participants in the scheme.
Results So Far
- 298 trainees went through the program from June 2016 to July 2017
- 95% of these completed the training and underwent the assessments
- 269 were certified in either masonry, plumbing, plastering or formwork
- Average age: 24
- Percentage females overall: 40%
- 70% of the 203 trainees available for interview in the M&E exercise had secured income generating opportunities
- Of these 81% were employed and 19% were self employed
- Following the graduation event in Feb 2017 for the first cohorts, every subsequent cohort was oversubscribed
- Very positive feedback from trainees that have been through the programme
- Positive feedback from site managers of sites where trainees have been subsequently employed, with some returning to inquire about more trainees