Switzerland, ADB support skills training

The Asian Development Bank will provide a $10 million grant to help scale up skills training for young workers in Bangladesh to boost income and productivity.

The grant is provided by the Swiss government but will be administered by the Manila-based lender.

The assistance is part of the $30 million grant that the government of Switzerland has planned to contribute to the Skills for Employment Investment Programme in the country.

The Skills for Employment Investment Programme will have three tranches, and the Swiss government's assistance is under the first tranche. It will target 40,000 women and disadvantaged people, including those with disabilities.

The assistance will also support 32 public training institutions under the ministries of: education, expatriates' welfare and overseas employment, and industries; nine industry associations; Palli-Karma Sahayak Foundation; and Bangladesh Bank.

The assistance provided by the government of Switzerland will support Bangladesh's efforts to become a middle-income country by raising workers' skills, productivity and income, said Kazuhiko Higuchi, country director of ADB's Bangladesh Resident Mission. 

Through the grant, the Skills for Employment Investment Programme will benefit from the experience and expertise of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in skills development, he added.

The investment programme, to be implemented by the finance ministry over seven years, will equip over 1.25 million youth with employable skills by 2021 through a strong involvement of the private sector.

The programme will support skills training in 15 priority sectors, starting with six sectors: garments and textiles, leather, construction, light engineering, information technology, and shipbuilding.

A major target of the investment programme is to boost job placement to around 70 percent from the existing 40 percent through performance-based funding.

The investment programme is estimated to cost a total of $1.07 billion: the Swiss government will provide $30 million, ADB $350 million, the government $200 million, private sector $90 million and other development partners $400 million.