The identification of five key green occupations for which competency standards will be created marks another step towards creating a Green Economy for Bangladesh.

The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. Md. Alfaz Uddin, Joint Secretary, Director (Planning) from the Bureau of Non-Formal Education. He emphasized the importance of developing competency standards for green occupations to meet industry needs and creating jobs which are climate change responsive.

During the event, discussants representing the government, employers, and workers organizations as well as development partners working in several green occupations shared their experiences and needs in this sector. The five occupations selected were: waste collection and management; eco tour guiding; organic compost production and marketing; organic vegetables and safe food cultivation; and mushroom production.

Identification of the five occupations was based on the field experiences of B-SEP project partners, who have successfully established Green Enterprises by providing these skills to hundreds of members of disadvantaged groups. This helped demonstrate the market demand for these skills while the products and services provided by the project supported green entrepreneurs.
Competency standards will now be created for these occupations by the Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB) with ILO support. Competency standards provide an agreed definition between industry and the TVET system about what a skilled worker in a field should be able to do and form the basis for formal qualifications to be taught by technical and vocational training institutions.

Also speaking at the event, Kishore Kumar Singh, Chief Technical Advisor, ILO B-SEP project said, “Developing competency standards and courses offered by TVET institutes on these occupations will provide an opportunity to institutionalize project experiences and lessons to benefit new market entrants long after the project has ended.”
The ILO places considerable importance on the creation of Green jobs in recognition of the consequences of climate change for the world of work and opportunities that could arise from action to tackle climate change while emphasizing the critical importance of a just transition for all.

It is expected that the competence standards will be developed by October 2018. They will then be offered as courses by any technical vocational institution, training institutes or by NGOs.
The Bangladesh Skills for Employment and Productivity (B-SEP) Project is an ILO project funded by the Government of Canada and carried out in close collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh. The initiative aims to make skills in Bangladesh nationally recognized, accessible to all, higher quality and directly linked to jobs.