Enhanced Skills Development and Qualification Recognition of Labour Migrants from Bangladesh

The area of skills development and qualification recognition presents a development priority for the Government of Bangladesh (GoB). The GoB recognizes the importance of skills in enhancing the career prospects and income-earning potential of workers.

With the overall objective of enhancing the employability of Bangladeshi migrant workers leading to improved economic migration outcomes, in adherence with the National Skills Development Policy, this project will contribute to building a more effective system of skills development and qualification recognition for overseas employment. Until now, despite a comprehensive Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector reform process in Bangladesh that was started in 2006, skills development interventions for overseas employment remain largely uncoordinated and existing training systems mostly fail to meet international standards. Hence, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment (MEWOE), the project will promote the adoption of a consolidated Action Plan to implement the migration specific components of the policy. It will further seek to ensure an inclusive and equitable, gender-based approach to reach larger numbers of labour migrants and engage migrants to actively shape the training process of the system. Lastly, the project will embark on a coordinated approach to build closer relations with selected overseas employers to identify solutions for a more demand-driven training system.