Introducing Rural Women to Formal Employment in Garments Sector

DHAKA,  April 24 (NsNewsWire) — The Northern Areas Reduction-of-Poverty Initiative (NARI) project economically empowers poor and vulnerable women from the northwestern region of Bangladesh by facilitating their access to jobs in the ready-made garment (RMG) sector. The project offers training, transitional housing, counseling and facilitates formal employment in garment factories for around 10,800 women from five northern districts —  Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, and Rangpur.

The project has constructed dormitories and training centers (DTC) in each of the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) in Dhaka, Karnaphuli, and Ishwardi.  The first batch of training program with 900 women will start in April 2016 300 trainees per DTC will be trained in each batch; each DTC can hold 600 trainees at a time.

The three-month training will be on cutting, sewing, and quality control. The trainees will receive a monthly stipend of BDT 800 for the training period in addition to housing, food, and job placement facilities. The trainees may continue staying at the dormitories for three additional months in exchange of a subsidized amount for food. The dormitories attached to the training center will accommodate 600 women for a transitional period of six months at a time. The trainees will also receive life skill training on city life adjustment, savings and remittances, safety and security, rights and responsibilities at the work-place, finding appropriate housing, contract negotiation and health among many others.

The project has also launched an Information, Education Campaign (IEC) in the five target districts since April 2015 to raise awareness and select the candidates, train them and introduce them to formal employment at EPZ sites. The project recruited Shushilon, an NGO, to carry out the campaign.  So far Shushilon has screened and distributed applications to over 1100 interested candidates in 25 unions . Over 600 candidates have already responded. Over 10 IEC Campaigns had been conducted in 244 unions.

The Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) coordinates  the project while the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) is the implementing agency. ECNEC approved the revised DPP for the project on March 22, 2016, incorporating the extended project closing date of December 31, 2018.

The World Bank has approved concessional IDA financing of US$29.29 million for this project.