Our impact, Their voices
Enhancing access to new skills for vulnerable workers in Bangladesh
ILO’s Canadian funded Bangladesh Skills for Employment and Productivity (B-SEP) Project facilitates workplace inclusion by making training accessible to disadvantaged groups such as poor women, persons with disabilities, indigenous youth.
Her father is a day labourer who earns BDT250-300 per day during harvest season. Living in poverty, Suruj had formal education till grade eight after which she had to drop out.
One day, while doing household chores Suruj learnt from a fellow villager that Thakurgaon Polytechnic Institute would offer a short course on Food processing and Quality Control, and that stipend will be provided to students to cover transport and snacks.
Suruj had never tasted items like bread, jam, jelly or juice and of course didn’t know how to make these items. She took the brave decision to expand her knowledge and skills, and attended the six-month course from June till December 2017.
The certificate came valuable as it allowed her to apply for jobs in both domestic and overseas markets.
Suruj has been recently employed by a local bakery named Omar Bakery and Food Products limited. She earns BDT 10,000 per month with which she supports her family and hopes to get a better job in future.
She said, “I used to work with my father as a day labourer and I thought that was it. I didn’t know that I had the potential to build new skills and need a push to achieve it. I’m very grateful to Bangladesh and Canadian government for supporting this training which has changed my life. Now I can think big.”
ILO’s Canadian funded Bangladesh Skills for Employment and Productivity (B-SEP) Project supported Thakurgaon Polytechnic to establish a standard Food Processing and Quality Control laboratory and introduced NTVQF on this occupation. The project facilitates workplace inclusion by building the capacity of vocational and technical institutes and by making training accessible to disadvantaged groups such as poor women, persons with disabilities, indigenous youth etc.
For more information, contact
Kishore Kumar SinghChief Technical Advisor
Bangladesh -Skills for Employment and Productivity Project
singhk@ilo.org