Skills for Slum Dwellers

The people in the slums live in utter poverty and are deprived of even basic education consequently a large number of children are involved in different odd jobs to supplement their families’ income. The need for practical skills development is severely felt by these communities to earn alternative jobs. There are two vocational training centers operating at Rayer Bazar area and one of them is Chetona Bikash Kendra (CBK). The project was funded by Charles Vögele and Swisscontact facilitated its implementaion since inception in 2005. The project was executed by ‘Chetona Bikash Kendra (CBK)’ under Community Development Library, a local NGO engaged in delivering information and knowledge. The overall goal of the project was to raise the socioeconomic conditions of the slum dwellers by providing them vocational training so that they can earn higher income by getting better jobs or through self employment.

Project Approach:

The project’s main focus was to increase the coverage of the training to a larger group and link them to increased income potential. It planned to capitalize the skills of graduate students to cater to the present demand which stems from the adjacent slum dwellers for tailor made dresses and also to the Ready Made Garments (RMG) sector.

• Target Group
  Unemployed young women and men in the poor community. 95% women and 5% men
• Vocational Training Trades
  Course Duration: 06 Months
  Trades: Sewing (Stitching; and sewing machine operation)
  Tailoring (measuring and cutting for specific clothing items for women)
  Embroidery (design, design tracing from paper to cloth; and embroidery machine operation)
  Block and Batik (color combination/mixing; block printing on fabric e.g. bed sheets, women dresses).
• Employment
  Self-employment Graduates start small business mainly at their residence to collect orders from their surroundings and through the CBK training center. They sometimes purchase machines or use the machines at CBK training center and pay a margin to CBK for using the facilities. More than 80% of the graduates seek self-employment.
  Wage-employment Graduates look for vacant jobs in the small and/or medium scale garments, embroidery and tailoring shops surrounding their locality. About 20% graduates seek wage-employment.

Project Impact:
The project since inception, provided vocational and skills training to about 1400 women and men during a period of five years ending in August 2011.

Contact Details:
More information of the project can be obtained from:
Belayet Hossain, National Officer (belayet.hossain@swisscontact.org.bd)