The Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided a concessional loan, entitled Skills Development Project to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh on 6 June 2008. The loan agreement was signed on 18 June 2008 and it became effective on 20 November 2008. The project is co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

The project is expected to continue till 30 November 2013. The project is being implemented and managed by the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) and is being advised by consultants sourced by Swisscontact, GTZ-IS, and Maxwell Stamp Ltd.

The objective of the project is to reduce poverty and promote economic growth in Bangladesh by increasing wage and self-employment of graduates of skills training programs. The project has four components: (i) enhanced relevance of and access to technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programs, (ii) improved capacity for good quality TVET delivery, (iii) delivery of relevant skills training, and (iv) project management.

The Project aims to empower women through skills training, among others. It will provide employable skills training so that graduates can be employed in domestic and overseas job markets. The project provides enterpreneurship training and arranges credit for operation to those who want to start their own businesses. It will also upgrade skills of the underemployed as well as employed so that they can receive higher salaries for their increased labor productivity. The Project will provide managerial training to women workers for their promotion in industries.

The Project aims to increase both the internal and external efficiency of TVET system. Training capacity will be expanded as well as the capacity utilization rate. The project will promote gender balance and give more preference to under privileged people. The quality of training will be increased by introducing market responsive, competency based training programs, employing competent administrators and qualified teachers and upgrading training equipment.

To increase external efficiency, the employment rate of TVET graduates will be increased by (i) establishing partnerships with industries, (ii) developing and updating curricula frequently to meet the labor market demands, and (iii) providing job placement services to students.

One of the largest foreign exchange earners in the country are the Bangladeshi overseas workers via remittances. As their current wage is low, upgraded training programs will be provided to them, utilizing two funds for this purpose: the Competitive Program Development Fund and the Market Responsive Training Fund. With this intervention, at least 10 percent increase in the remittances of the training beneficiaries is expected at the end of the project period.

Contact Details:

More information on the project can be obtained from:

Makbul Hossain, Senior Project Officer (makbul.hossain@swisscontact.org.bd)