Skill Development Program

Introduction

Of our country’s total population of 170 billion, almost 49% is among the age of 24 or less. Around 75% of this age group resides in rural areas where quality education is scarce let alone opportunities for skill development. With technological advancements and globalization changing the skill demands around the world, it is imperative to arm this key demographic with international standard skill based education and knowledge to help realize their full potential.

However, for a country so full of youth population it is unfortunate that we fail to benefit from our crucial demographic shift for the lack of quality education as well as skill development and employment opportunities. In the light of these global phenomena, recognizing the importance of developing our youth, our Government has also been implementing ‘’National Skill Development Action Plan Phase 2 (2017-21)’ to ensure maximum utilization of our youth potential. Uttaran echoes the same sentiment and has therefore been implementing youth based skill development programs since its inception. Our working areas include rural marginalized areas where intersectional disadvantages are acute. Along with existing socio- economic barriers and limited access to services these regions regularly battle with overlapping natural disasters. Child labor, dropping out of school, early marriage, migration and human trafficking are also rampant in such underprivileged communities. Obstacles such as these are even more magnified for young girls and women. That is why we have been implementing market relevant skill development programs that have good economic prospects, are gender transformative and improve climate resilience. We believe to cope with the current fast paced and skill driven global informal sector, these technical and vocational trainings will play an even bigger role in future, especially in the wake of COVID-19 where economic and employment scenarios around the world have been observing major changes. Therefore, we must prepare the future population of our country to ensure that they not only survive but thrive and prosper and help Bangladesh make its mark worldwide

Reaching Out of School Children(ROSC) PhaseII:

Uttaran implemented a vocational training program titled ‘“Reaching Out- Of- School Children (ROSC), phase-II’’ from March 2017 to June 2021 for children who were forced to drop out of schools due to various socio-economic reasons. It was implemented with financial support of World Bank through the Directorate of Primary Education. Technical support of this project was provided by Save the Children International. Uttaran implemented this project in Ramu and Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar district, Nagarkanda and Boal Mari upazila of Faridpur district and Jajira upazila of Shariatpur districts.

Aim: To create employment opportunities by providing technical training to 15- to 24-year-olds who have dropped out of school.

Trainings Offered:

  • Industrial Sewing Machine Operation
  • Beauty Care
  • Tailoring & Dress Making
  • Electric House wring
  • Electrical house wring and solar system
  • Refrigerator and Air Conditioner
  • Electronics and mobile phone servicing
  • Petrol and diesel engine mechanics (Motor cycle servicing)
  • Block Batik and screen printing
  • Computer and ICT Skills
  • Housekeeping
  • Tour guide and photography

Achievements:

  • 1375 youths received3 months duration skill trainingon 12 trades. Among them 761 were female and 614 were male.
  • 424 becameself-employedthrough entrepreneurship.
  • 559 received jobs in relevant sectors.