Generation’s model starts with intelligence gathered directly from the job market. Before a curriculum is written, the organisation engages with employers to understand where real vacancies exist and what’s genuinely required to perform those roles.
It then works with them to develop both their technical capabilities and ‘soft skills’ which are given equal weight when determining whether someone is likely to succeed in a role.
As Mona Mourshed, the founder of Generation, explains: “Learners go through a six-to-sixteen-week profession-specific program that’s activity-based. It gives them the technical skills, behavioural skills and mindsets that they need to perform the entry-level role at a high level.”
Innovative as this model is, the real differentiator of Generation’s work lies in how impact is measured. Once participants are placed, Generation tracks their employment, income and wellbeing for up to five years.
The results are compelling. Across more than 153,000 graduates in 17 countries, 83 per cent find work within six months, and around 75 per cent remain employed two to five years after completing a program.1
In total, Generation has worked with more than 24,000 employer partners around the world, most of whom hire repeatedly from its programs, with 70 per cent of employed graduates over the last 12 months being hired by repeat employers.1
Beyond its own programs, Generation is working to shift how impact is measured across the wider livelihoods sector, and Macquarie's most recent global grant is directly supporting that ambition.
Through The Durability Collective and its porgram, Durability Academy, Generation supports other non-profits to build the systems and capability needed to track long-term outcomes. The Collective offers a range of publicly available programs and events to support non-profits in deepening their knowledge and practice, and for a smaller number of organisations, the Academy combines intensive multi-year training, coaching and practical implementation, enabling organisations around the world to move beyond short-term placement metrics and demonstrate whether their work leads to sustained improvements in employment, income and wellbeing.
The Durability Collective reflects a shared belief that durability should become a common standard across the sector, allowing funders, governments and delivery partners to understand what genuinely works and direct resources accordingly.
The Foundation's Future Ready program focuses on supporting people on their path to employment, and its support for Generation reflects what that looks like when it's done well.
Since 2017 Macquarie has provided grants of more than $A9.1 million, both globally and through country offices in Australia, UK, France and Hong Kong.3 But its support goes well beyond funding. Macquarie employees mentor participants as they prepare for job interviews and continue as coaches to guide career conversations once employment has been secured. Macquarie is also an employer partner. Skilled volunteering input at a board and programmatic level has also helped shape how programs are designed and evaluated. And, just as importantly, Macquarie's involvement has helped unlock additional funding from other organisations, multiplying the reach of each dollar committed.
All of this work supports Mona Mourshed’s vision of a world “where irrespective of who you are, where you've been, your ethnicity or your age, you're looked at with equity in terms of what you're able to achieve.2
It's a vision being built and measured by Generation, one durable career at a time.
1. Generation.org, Impact https://www.generation.org/impact/
2. Dr Mona Mourshed, World Economic Forum Meet the Leader, January 2023: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/hire-better-2023-generation-ceo-mona-mourshed/
3. Total grants provided by the Macquarie Group Foundation to Generation You Employed, Generation Australia, Generation UK, Generation France and Generation Hong Kong since 2017 to 31 March 2026.
