Ford Foundation - Future of Work(ers) India is a grant from the Ford Foundation that funds initiatives addressing the changing nature of work and its impact on vulnerable populations in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The program supports efforts to build fair economies and strengthen social protections for workers, including financial inclusion for rural migrants and women.

Projects may address globalization, emerging technologies such as AI and automation, and precarious gig-economy working conditions. Specific award amounts and deadlines are determined by the Foundation on a case-by-case basis.

Future of Work(ers) - Ford Foundation Show Main Navigation Menu Civic Engagement and Government Creativity and Free Expression Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice Natural Resources and Climate Justice International Fellowships Program Our work around the world India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka Mexico and Central America Middle East and North Africa Featured Learning Reflections Evaluation of Ford’s BUILD Initiative Disability Rights Moves Forward Featured News and Stories The Urgent Work of Our Moment About the Ford Foundation A History of Social Justice Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Governance and Financial Statements Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice Share this page on Facebook Share this page on LinkedIn U.S. and International Strategy The nature of work is changing—and at a magnitude that we have yet to fully grasp, let alone respond to.

Over the past several decades, the workplace has been transformed by globalization, changing power dynamics, and the growing economic role of financial markets.

New and emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence, robotics, and big data—are playing an increasingly important role in shaping the jobs of the future, by shifting jobs between sectors, transforming the kinds of tasks that are done in existing jobs, and changing how people connect to work.

Traditional employment is beginning to look more and more like “gig” work, with unpredictable work schedules and more precarious working conditions and rewards. These changes have broad implications. As technological innovation upends more sectors of the economy—displacing jobs and changing the nature of work tasks—deep economic anxiety fuels mistrust of democratic institutions and magnifies age-old prejudices and discrimination.

Labor market policies, which regulate and help determine the nature of employment and employer-worker arrangements, have not kept up. Millions of workers can’t afford to simply cope with a changing marketplace and growing economic risk.

Worldwide, many types of workers are affected by these seismic changes, from the creative professional working “gig to gig” to the retail or restaurant worker, the home care worker negotiating price and availability with customers through an app, the construction worker, and the long-haul trucker worried about a future of driverless vehicles.

But the changes are not impacting people equally: women, people of color, migrants and people with disabilities disproportionately bear the brunt, exacerbating inequality overall. If harnessed properly, new technologies have the potential to create new industries, occupations, and jobs. Rather than simply replacing human labor, technology can augment it.

Tech can also be a boon to people with disabilities, and has the potential to help increase human productivity as well as job quality. Maximizing this potential will require strong policies, regulations, standards, and innovative business practices that increase quality work and economic security.

It will mean building a broad coalition of workers and their advocates, the private sector, and policy makers across levels of government to generate ideas and promote action. And it will take leadership from robust organizations focused on amplifying the power of workers. We know our partners’ time is valuable, so we discourage using it to submit proposals that don’t fall within funding guidelines.

In this spirit, we aim to be transparent about what our grantmaking does not support. We do not make grants to support efforts to strengthen economic and financial security outside the context of work for example in areas such food and nutrition assistance. We do not fund scientific or technological research that is disconnected from work and workers.

And we do not fund workforce development and skill-building, or entrepreneurship training and financing. Note: The foundation’s Mission Investments team does invest in enterprises, including funds that emphasize job quality.

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