Promoting Gender Responsive Skills Training System – PROGRESS

This project aims to increase the number of women employed with decent work in a broader range of occupations Bangladesh . In collaboration with a range of donors and non-government partners, Bangladesh has established a more market-oriented, competency-based technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system coordinated through a collaborative peak body, the National Development Skills Authority (NSDA). This project establishes a link between the skills system and infrastructure and economic development strategies, including promoting green enterprises to ensure long-term benefits for human capital development, sustainable employment and improved livelihoods.

This project uses gender equality and women’s empowerment as a central theme to drive improvements in policy, skills and business service provision to empower Bangladeshi women. It also seeks to harness women’s potential in promoting green skills and green enterprise development. This project supports the Bangladesh Government’s commitment to promote gender equality in TVET, significantly increase women’s graduation and labour market insertion, and create gender-responsive, violence-free training and working environments.

Designed to combine capacity building and policy support with a practical demonstration to achieve sustainable change, the project activities include: (1) providing technical assistance to the NSDA for developing and implementing an action plan on gender equality (GE) in TVET/Skills Training; (2) setting up a gender and skills taskforce to review the strategy for the promotion of GE and gender-based violence-free TVET system; (3) addressing the impacts of COVID-19 and providing more flexible training schedules, blended learning solutions, and provision of child care; (4) conducting gender-focused value chain analysis and research to identify opportunities for increasing women’s employment; (5) providing technical assistance to business development service providers in selected value chains; (6) establishing public-private partnerships to enhance women’s access to infrastructure projects; (7) increasing access to apprenticeship-based training for women; and (8) developing and promoting gender and environment-based curriculum and training materials.