PROOFS VET Newsletter

PROOFS VET NewsletterProfitable Opportunities For Food Security (PROOFS) | Vocational Education and Training (VET) Project

July - August 2016 facebook.com/ICCOCooperationSouthandCentralAsia

Electrician Shahin Alam, 21, displays his ID card next to his tools. The card was issued by the local electrician trade association and helped him establish credibility in the local market. PROOFS-VET trained Alam through a local trader and connected him to the job market.

Giving Young Bangladeshis a Fair Chance at Life

Message from Project Manager PROOFS

Greetings all! I am delighted

to bring you the July-August 2016 edition of our Monthly Newsletter for the PROOFS Vocational Education and Training (VET) program. As you scroll down, you will see inspiring reflections and stories on how young adolescents in seven rural districts of Bangladesh are finding jobs, creating small businesses, and contributing to household incomes as well as reducing child labor. PROOFS VET began in November 2014, with support from the Embassy of Kingdom of Netherlands, to help rural drop-out-of-school adolescents find employment through vocational skills training, while also improving

safety and health standards in workplaces of the informal sector.

The centerpiece of this Newsletter is an opinion-editorial ‘Towards an Empowered and Peaceful Next Generation in Bangladesh with Vocational Education and Training,’ written in commemoration of August 12, International Youth Day, to celebrate and call for greater support to the Youth of Bangladesh. Over the next few months, we will continue to highlight and share glimpses of our work and its results. It is our hope that you will stay engaged and inspired. Please feel free to forward this Newsletter to anyone who would be interested. And if you want to learn more about ICCO Cooperation, follow us on Facebook.

Tessa Schmelzer Country Representative, ICCO Cooperation - Bangladesh

Page 2

OP-Ed: Towards an Empowered and Peaceful Next Generation with Vocational Education and Training

Page 3Precious Peace Brings Smile

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A Better Teacher and a Better Businessman

Page 4Finding Self-Esteem through Karchupi Embroidery Craftsmanship

Profitable Opportunities For Food Security (PROOFS)2

PROOFS VET Newsletter

On a humid monsoon-summer morning in southern Bangladesh’s Bhola district the

warm sound of a handheld slide smoothening a wooden surface slices the thick air in a steady pace. Mohammed Sajib, 17, keeps a busy and happy schedule at the Monir Furniture Workshop where he has been working since February 2016. Over at Rampotti village in Barishal district, Hasan Rabbi and Mohammed Shahin Sarder, who have been friends since their boyhood, run their own furniture shop and employ at least seven young carpenters.

At the Melabor Master Para village in Nilphamari district, also in southern Bangladesh, electrician Shahim Alam, 21, is busy wiring homes and aspiring to spend a few years doing the same in a Gulf country before coming back to start his own business. Just across the district, a long line has snaked outside 22-year-old Chandan Boisso’s mobile phone repair shop. The other repair shop in town was closed for the day, diverting everyone to him.

As the world tuned into the devastating Dhaka attack last month, and yet again the storyline of young disillusioned Bangladeshis played out on the media, countless stories like those of Sajib, Hasan, Mohammed, Shahim and Chandan quietly played out in towns and villages across the country. They are not a few, but there needs to be many more.

This year, we traveled extensively through Bangladesh’s southern and northern districts, meeting young people who have learnt new trades, found jobs, and set up small businesses, often employing other young people. They’re contributing to family incomes. They’re ensuring their siblings get to go to school; youth who have

taken the reins of their life in their own hands as best as they can for a better future. What we witnessed was inspiring and hopeful. And it all began with a tragedy two years ago.

In 2014, after the devastating Rana plaza incident, the Embassy of Netherlands was keen on contributing to improved workplace safety standards in Bangladesh while also working on improving access to livelihood for young Bangladeshis. That summer, in June, the Embassy designed and added a new Vocational Education and Training (VET) activity to its four-year Profitable Opportunities for Food Security (PROOFS) program to help rural drop-out-of-school adolescents find local (self) employment through vocational skills training, while also improving safety and health standards in workplaces of the informal sector.

Bangladesh’s demography and socio-economic conditions make initiatives of this nature crucial. Bangladesh’s 160 million people are predominantly Sunni Muslims, including a demographic bulge under the vulnerable age of 25 who often have little to no opportunities outside of agriculture and migration. There is a severe lack of vocational training and education, and the best employment opportunities lie in urban centers near or far.

This tough mix of realities is not unique to Bangladesh. Everyday almost a thousand people

leave Nepal to become migrant workers abroad, and three to four corpses of such workers arrives home daily. In Pakistan, a nine percent GDP growth, almost the double of its current five percent, is required to successfully employ its under-20 population of approximately 90 million people. In India, the government estimates it must train 500 million young people by 2022, but it has less than 1,500 training schools. These countries, or the South Asian region as a whole, are on a rapid path of urbanization. This means the employment market will steadily shift towards one that seeks skilled workers and service providers.

This is what makes the work done by PROOFS VET and other stakeholders involved in non-formal education such as BRAC, Swiss Contact, and ILO especially important—arguably more so now than ever. The Government of Bangladesh’s National Skill Development Policy recognizes that role in skill development and job creation. Fortunately, Bangladesh has a strong tradition of an informal Ostad model for apprentice training. While the sector is unregulated and unstandardized, and there are questions and concerns around the quality of training, wage rates (35 percent lower wages in comparing with formal sector), working hours, work standards, it does serves as the perfect local work culture foundation on which to build an improved and systematic VET program.

Since 2014, PROOFS VET has trained local traders in seven districts of Bangladesh in workplace safety standards, code of conduct on pay and work hours, occupational skills, and business management skills. Equally important, the program standardized technical training across 16 different trades, including motorcycle servicing, electric installation & maintenance, plumbing, welding, tailoring and dress making, masonry, and equips traders. As a result, an upgraded, more formalized approach to the

informal Ostad model for apprentice training is now available in the

country. The other impacts so far?

VET has trained nearly 2,300 adolescent youth in practical vocational skills. Of that, over 75 percent have founds jobs or are self-employed and nearly 45 percent are young

women. Their monthly wage average has gone from

nil to anywhere between 3,000 to 7,000 taka. Those who

have started their own businesses earn as much as 10,000 taka per month.

More importantly, those numbers translate into something more precious: young mothers and housewives confident now that their children can afford a decent education, young men who can take pride in becoming the primary bread earners of their family and knowing their parents who spent their lives as subsistence farmers or daily wage workers can retire in peace.

OP-Ed: Towards an Empowered and Peaceful Next Generation with Vocational Education and Training

the government estimates it

must train 500 million young

people by 2022

Vocational Education And Training (VET) Project 3

PROOFS VET Newsletter

Just a few weeks ago, we saw this unfold with our own eyes. Out in the northern district of Rangpur, the young ladies who were trained on hand karchupi embroidery craftsmanship were joyfully working on the intricate task of making simple fabrics ornate and glittery. To ensure job security, not only did we bring a local trader to train these women, but also connected them to the market. Now, the trader gives them regular work orders and ensures their products find a reliable market. This is glamour meets goodness, vanity by vocation. It’s a new empowered future.

Back at the mobile repair shop, we watch Chandan’s focus as he treats his clients as a good doctor would a patient. The start of his story is not unique: formal education ended for him in grade six when his father, a rickshaw van puller, and mother, a farmer tending less than half an acre of land, couldn’t afford to keep him in school. With no defined future or real choices, Chandan himself took to pulling a rickshaw van for seven years. “Life was difficult,” he reflects. "Every evening, I would come home physically drained, but still not earning enough to save money.” But the story is looking hopeful now: Chandan’s savings go into paying the bank loan with which he started his business, and sending

his younger sister to school. “I’ve found peace,” he told us.

“I dream of happy days for me and my family,” he said. “And I hope to be an Ostad myself some day. Teaching others is the best way to improve ones knowledge and skills.” With a little help and hard work, Chandan is on a fast track to making sure his dreams can come true. As can thousands of other young Bangladeshis who, with just a bit of a support and network, can go a long way. Programs like PROOFS VET makes sense; it is giving young, vulnerable Bangladeshis a skill set and connecting them to a job so they can build a productive and fulfilling life. It is empowering local traders with the skills,

knowledge, and networks required to continue training other apprentices and to expand small businesses. Together, the local traders and their

trained apprentices will continue to build on the foundations for an improved

apprenticeship model. They will continue creating jobs and building a

better community and future.

For us personally, managing PROOFS VET has been a first-hand testament to the enterprising, indomitable spirit of Bangladesh. We’ve seen countless stories of opportunities created, and lives

transformed – an effort led and supported by the country’s youth.

This is the real Bangladesh, and it is one that will continue to thrive and

flourish with the right kind of partnership from its well-wishers.

(Authored by Tessa Schmelzer, Country Director of ICCO Cooperation, Bangladesh, and Stuti Basnyet, Deputy Project Manager of PROOFS VET. For questions/comments, you can contact them through info@proofsbangladesh.org)

trader gives them

regular work orders

and ensures their products find a reliable

market

Precious Peace Brings SmileChandan Boisso’s eyes light up as he looks at

the customers lined up outside his mobile phone repair store. There are more customers today because the only other store in his village is closed. Boisso, 22, gets enough clients on other days too. He earns between 6,000 to 7,000 taka every month—300 taka on good days and 150 when business is “okay.” Last year PROOFS Vocational Education and Training (VET) pro-gram came to Boisso’s Nilphamari district and trained 425 youth in practical vocational skills. An ardent mobile phone enthusiast, Biosso was paired with a local mobile phone repair shop owner who served as an Ostad and taught him all of the tricks of the trade over seven months. Six months ago Biosso was also able to access 10,000 taka credit and opened his own shop ‘Jui Telecom and Mobile Phone Servicing Cen-ter.’ Boisso’s savings go into paying the bank loan and sending his younger sister to school. “I’ve found peace,” he shared. “Life is comfortable.” Until a year ago, however, life wasn’t as comfortable.

Education ended for Boisso when he was in grade six. His father, a rickshow puller, and mother, a farmer tending less then 0.5 acre of land, couldn’t afford to keep him in school. Out of school with an uncertain future, Boisso took to pulling a rickshaw van for seven years, the only job that came his way. “Life was difficult,” he reflects. "Every evening, I would come home physically drained, but still not earning enough to save money.” Things are different now. “I dream of happy days for me and my family.” Boisso hopes to also serve as an Ostad some day. "Teaching others is the best way to improve ones knowledge and skills.”

Bisso is among the 2,100 youth trained by VET. Over 75 percent of the graduates are either self-employed or have found jobs.

y Developed standardized market-friendly training toolkits across 16 trades. The toolkits -- Ostad training curriculums, Apprentice assessment sheets, certificates for Ostads and Apprentice, and Ostad self-assessment sheets -- have been adopted by almost 1,100 local traders/business owners and at least seven local trade associations in seven districts.

y Developed a more formalized, upgraded approach to the informal Ostad model for apprentice training.

y Trained more than 2,100 adolescent-youth in practical vocational skills, over 45 percent of whom are girls.

y More than 75 percent of the graduates trained, i.e. 1,100 youth are self-employed or have jobs; many already offer part/full-time jobs to other youth from their areas.Over 3,000 households sensitized on child labornorms and benefit fromincreased incomes.

y More than 75 percent of the graduates trained, i.e. 1,100 youth are self-employed or have jobs; many already offer part/full-time jobs to other youth from their areas.

y 3,000 households sensitized on child labor norms and benefit from increased incomes. Anecdotal evidence show that increased incomes go towards educating siblings.

KEY PROGRAM IMPACTS

Profitable Opportunities For Food Security (PROOFS)4

PROOFS VET Newsletter

A Better Teacher and a Better Businessman

Finding Self-Esteem through Karchupi Embroidery Craftsmanship

Khagendra Nath Roy (middle, top) has been in the business of motorcycle repair for

23 years. He ran a small repair and sales shop at a busy intersection in the Sholmori village of Nilphamari district in Northern Bangladesh. Like many other local traders, he brought in apprentice when business looked good. More than anything else, taking on apprentice i.e., become an Ostad, was a way of getting cheap labor. Last year, PROOFS VET approached him with a training offer if he agreed to train

other young people. Quick at recognizing opportunities, Roy agreed. He learned how to become a better teacher -- health and safety standards, occupation skills, code of conduct on pay and work hours, assessment and feedback guidelines, linking apprentice to jobs etc. – and how to expand his business with planning and marketing.

Roy took on four new apprentices and groomed them diligently over a four-month period using the toolkits provided by VET. All four trainees

now work for him. “They are basically an extension of me,” he shared. With business growing, Roy opened two new workshops this year. The first is 7 km away and is manned by two graduates with whom he’s struck a profit-sharing model. The next one is adjacent to his original workshop, also managed by his graduates. Roy earns around 60,000 taka a month—a three-fold uptick in revenue. Sensitive to work hours and pay rate standards, Roy ensures his staff gets paid decently as well.

Khagendra Nath Roy (middle, top) has been in the business of motorcycle repair for

23 years. He ran a small repair and sales shop at a busy intersection in the Sholmori village of Nilphamari district in Northern Bangladesh. Like many other local traders, he brought in apprentice when business looked good. More than anything else, taking on apprentice i.e., become an Ostad, was a way of getting cheap labor. Last year, PROOFS VET approached him with a training offer if he agreed to train

other young people. Quick at recognizing opportunities, Roy agreed. He learned how to become a better teacher -- health and safety standards, occupation skills, code of conduct on pay and work hours, assessment and feedback guidelines, linking apprentice to jobs etc. – and how to expand his business with planning and marketing. Roy took on four new apprentices and groomed them diligently over a four-month period using the toolkits provided by VET. All four trainees now work for him. “They

are basically an extension of me,” he shared. With business growing, Roy opened two new workshops this year. The first is 7 km away and is manned by two graduates with whom he’s struck a profit-sharing model. The next one is adjacent to his original workshop, also managed by his graduates. Roy earns around 60,000 taka a month—a three-fold uptick in revenue. Sensitive to work hours and pay rate standards, Roy ensures his staff gets paid decently as well.

y 16 profitable and market-demand driven trades identified through survey.

y Training toolkits (training manuals, assessment sheets, certificates, Ostad self-assessment checklist), developed and standardized in compliance with the National Technical Vocational Qualification Framework and Bangladesh Technical Education Board pre vocational level-2.

y PROOFS’s Farm Business Groups identify

and recommend vulnerable out-of-school adolescent-youth for training.

y Local traders identified and secured to serve as Ostads (Masters).

y Parents, Farm Business Group member, Ostads, and Youth brought together to publicly sign an agreement that lays out the role and expectations from each party regarding work and training standards..

y Ostads trained on various topics including

health and safety standards, code of conduct on pay & work hours, occupational skills, and business management skills.

y Apprentice undergo 2-5 month training with Ostads.

y Apprentice are monitored and evaluated during before, during, and after the training.

y Apprentice and Ostads are both certified.

y Apprentice either start their own business (self-employed) or are linked to a job.

PROGRAM APPROACH VET adopted an approach referred to as the Ostad model for apprentice training program.