Getting skills and jobs to Bangladesh's poorest

Industry news

Getting skills and jobs to Bangladesh's poorest

People from rural Gazipur and remote North Bengal, Bangladesh’s poorest region, are now being employed in the readymade garments sector after completing a 3-month skills training program. The project is a partnership between East Knitting & Dyeing Industries, IDLC Finance, the ILO TVET Reform Project, Gazipur Technical School and College, Care Bangladesh and Shiree.

North Bengal is a region of picturesque wetlands and the lowest per capita incomes in Bangladesh. Primarily an agricultural area, every year thousands of people lose their homes and their livelihoods due to floods in the many low-lying districts. The Skills Development and Sustainable Livelihood Generation Project will provide training and jobs to people from this region for the next two years. After a 3-month training period and subsequent skills assessment, trainees will be certified and employed as Junior Machine Operators in local readymade garments factories.

The first batch of 22 people graduated from the program last week, and the second batch of 26 people are already now undergoing training. “The management of Fareast Knitting and Dyeing Industries sees this as a great opportunity for us to give back to the very group of people who help us achieve success at an international level. Our challenge and objective is to see these challenged people turn into trained hands and live their lives with dignity”, said Asif Moyeen, Managing Director, Far East.

“We are proud to be associated with this noble initiative as part of our CSR commitment, and we want to contribute more towards empowering people in future”, said Selim R.F. Hussain, CEO and Managing Director, IDLC.

“Bangladesh has made great progress in recent years. It is fortunate to have a young, dynamic work force. Giving them the skills for future employment will be a key to Bangladesh’s success. The TVET Reform Project is making that happen, through changing the way that skills development works and encouraging initiatives such as these”, said William Hanna, EU Ambassador to Bangladesh.

The project was conceptualized by the IDLC and the ILO and based on a learning and earning model developed by the ILO TVET Reform Project, funded by the European Union. The same model is also being used in Chittagong Women’s Polytechnic Institute, and five more institutions in the wider Dhaka region will begin using it by the end of 2013. The project is jointly being sponsored by Fareast and IDLC. Gazipur Technical School and College, under the Directorate of Technical Education, Government of Bangladesh, is providing the training. CARE Bangladesh and Shiree are sourcing participants from North Bengal.