As human beings, we all understand dignity. It’s something we seek out and cherish once we find it, regardless of where we live or what we do to earn a living. 

Upaya’s work of supporting social entrepreneurs as they create dignified jobs for people in extreme poverty is part of a much broader conversation about the dignity of work. And over the last several years, as the global impact investing market surpassed USD $1 trillion and our portfolio companies created nearly 30,000 dignified jobs, we noticed two things:

One, that the mainstream job quality conversation tends to focus on developed economies in the Global North, where both white and blue-collar jobs are largely, if not entirely, part of a formal economy. As with so many things, context matters. People in emerging markets looking for a path out of extreme poverty have different needs and face their own unique set of norms, rules, laws, and other factors. In places like India, where Upaya makes its investments, more than 90 percent of jobs are informal. In other words, though dignity of work is a universal human right, it doesn’t look exactly the same everywhere. 

The second thing we noticed was that impact metrics around job creation focused on job counting. If an investment created a job, that was enough to claim impact. Increasingly, however, the impact investing ecosystem is coming to understand that not all jobs are created equal. As we’ve observed in Upaya’s portfolio, the jobs that offer dignity to the extremely poor — fair and stable income, a safe working environment, and opportunities for upward mobility —  have ripple effects far beyond income. Dignified work leads to education for children, home ownership for families, and skill-building that can generate more opportunities. 

We want to address these two observations, and so do others in our space. That’s why we’re launching the Dignified Jobs Collaborative. In partnership with Dalberg, ANDE, and 60 Decibels, we will build a common standard for measuring the dignity and quality of jobs created through impact investments for those in extreme poverty. We will bring together impact-first investors and their portfolio companies in the emerging markets to draw insights, action plans and playbooks on how to integrate measuring dignity and quality of jobs in their impact measurement and management systems. 

We know that inequality is on the rise globally. We know that creating jobs locally has the power to help lift households out of poverty. We also know that in emerging markets like India’s, small and growing businesses (SGBs) create almost 60 percent of jobs. Through this initiative, we will create an evidence base on the quality of jobs created through impact investments, which will in turn help practitioners design interventions to address specific barriers to creating more dignified jobs for the people who need them most. 

We encourage investors, funders, and other practitioners to join us on this journey. Together, we can create more jobs that make a real impact on the lives of not just the job holders but their families, communities, and futures.