$ 20m project for RMG sector on cards
Posted: 2010.05.03
The Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) and Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) are jointly undertaking a project to ensure broader access of monga-prone women to readymade garment sector.
The proposed project styled "Northern Areas Reduction of Poverty Initiative (NARI), which is likely to take off at the beginning of the next year, will be the first ever World Bank financed operation in Bangladesh with a specific focus on the empowerment of women through employment in the formal sector.
The World Bank will provide credit of 20 million US dollar for the proposed venture, said a WB spokesman.
The MoLE will be the coordinating agency while the BEPZA will be the implementing one. The MoLE and BEPZA will respectively contribute US$0.1 million in kind and US$6.9 million in land.
The WB agreed to government's request to identify solutions that would help to increase access to employment opportunities in the garment sector for poor women from the poorest region of Bangladesh.
This is because female worker's participation in the garment sector in Bangladesh has contributed significantly to economic growth and poverty reduction by empowering poor women, and increasing their living standards, mobility and freedom.
The proposed Northern Areas Reduction of Poverty Initiative (NARI) project will explore avenues for empowering poor and vulnerable women from monga-prone areas of northwestern Bangladesh by facilitating their access to the readymade garment (RMG) sector in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs).
The NARI project will provide information, technical, life skills, and on-the-job training, transportation, housing and other support to migrating poor and vulnerable women to adjust to urban life and formal employment in the EPZ garment factories.
The proposed project will train 9,000 women from the monga - prone areas and support them in the transition to formal employment with opportunities for greater economic security and improved well-being.
If successful, the pilot project will be scaled up to other poor areas and with other implementing agencies like the two large private sector associations of readymade garment factories--BGMEA and BKMEA.
