Bangladesh’s economy continues to expand at an impressive pace. Yet, a large number of young people still face barriers to securing decent employment, 36.5 % of the labour force are aged 15-29, and 18.9 % of them are not in education, employment or training.1 Many of them, especially women, remain in low-skilled and low-paying roles: for example, 96.6 % of employed women work in informal jobs, and about 84.9 % of jobs overall are informal, limiting their professional growth and participation in the country’s evolving industrial landscape. 2
To respond to this challenge, Innovision Consulting Private Limited has partnered with Swisscontact under the Building Youth Employability through Skills (BYETS) programme, a four-year initiative (2022–2026) supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The programme seeks to empower 25,000 Bangladeshi youth, half of whom are women, by enhancing their technical, employability, and entrepreneurial skills, and by connecting them with income-generating opportunities in high-growth sectors.
Innovision has been leading field-level interventions in the RMG sector to strengthen factory-based training systems and improve workforce productivity. Two factories in Savar EPZ and Gazipur have been selected to pilot this initiative. Through a structured process, Innovision has worked closely with factory management to identify eligible trainers, assessors, and workers, and to organize Training of Trainers (ToT) and Training of Assessors (ToA) sessions at factory premises. Ten master trainers have been developed in each factory to lead the training efforts.
The skills development training engages freshers, helpers, and operators in practical learning modules designed to enhance operational efficiency and multi-skilling capacity. Innovision’s technical team continues to provide mentoring and backstopping support to ensure smooth implementation and sustainability of the training cycles. Detailed data collection and reporting processes further enable evidence-based decisions and ensure transparency at every stage.
Through this initiative, 500 female workers, 250 in each factory, are being trained alongside 20 master trainers. These efforts are helping factories build in-house training capacities, institutionalize continuous skills upgrading, and promote a more productive and gender-responsive workforce.
The BYETS programme, with Innovision’s implementation support, is contributing to bridging Bangladesh’s skills gap and ensuring that young people, particularly women, are better equipped to thrive in an increasingly competitive and dynamic labour market.
References
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Bangladesh SDG Push Diagnostic Report. New York: UNDP, 2023. https://sdgpush-insights.undp.org/reports/bgd; The Financial Express. “Leveraging Demographic Challenges through Transformative Youth-Led MSMEs.” The Financial Express (Dhaka), July 2024. https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/print/leveraging-demographic-challenges-through-transformative-youth-led-msmes-1750174007
- UN Women. Gender Equality Snapshot: Bangladesh 2024. New York: UN Women, October 2024. https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2024-10/b30_report_bangladesh_en.pdf; World Bank. Bangladesh Jobs Diagnostic Report. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099104310142425439/pdf/IDU14133e18a1c40f1459018e8c1afa6d6293eca.pdf