Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB) has approved the competency standard module that BRAC has recently developed for skills training of domestic workers. The official approval came after a review at a workshop today on Monday, (September 9, 2019) organised on the BTEB premises in Agargaon in the capital. BTEB will publish the module on its website for others to use. BRAC is also ready to share its knowledge and experiences with others working in this area.
Md Mahabubur Rahman, secretary and chairman (additional charge) of BTEB, was present at the workshop as chief guest. Tasmiah Tabassum Rahman, programme head of BRAC’s skills development programme, was also present among others.
Speakers at the workshop said domestic work is one of the most important occupations in the informal sector of Bangladesh's economy. While consisting mostly of women and girl children, domestic workers' force has a small share of men too. Women domestic workers now hold a fair share of the country's migrant workers' force. According to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), 12.1 per cent of the migrant workforce of Bangladesh were women domestic workers in 2017. That year a total of 1,008,525 migrant workers, 121,925 of whom were women, went abroad.
A recently-published joint study of International Labour Organisation and Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit estimates that around four million people are currently engaged in this occupation in Bangladesh.
Although domestic work provides livelihood for a large population, skills training opportunities are almost absent in the country. BRAC’s skills development programme (SDP) in this context is implementing a pilot project named 'Chacri' (Choosing household work as career to raise income) in Dhaka, facilitating skills development for domestic workers. The project has three objectives: provide skills training to underprivileged young men and women which will help them obtain domestic workers' job in decent work environment with better wage; assist them in job placement; and develop quality training curriculum and materials for domestic workers. BRAC expects that such quality skills training will also be organised for those who want to work abroad as domestic workers.
Having started in February this year, the nine-month pilot is now in its closing phase. With an objective to produce 300 skilled workers in this period, BRAC is operating two quality training centres in Korail and Hazaribag in the capital. The project's partner organisation Sheba.xyz is doing job placements through their online portal for those completing the training course.
