PROOFS VET Newsletter

PROOFS VET NewsletterProfitable Opportunities For Food Security (PROOFS) | Vocational Education and Training (VET) Project

August - September 2016 facebook.com/ICCOCooperationSouthandCentralAsia

PARTNER TO ENTERPRISING BANGLADESHIS

Message from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Bangladesh

Two weeks ago, Bangladesh witnessed sad and unnecessary loss of lives in Tongi because

of a fire. Newspaper reports indicate that the right risk mitigation systems and capacity were not in place. Two years ago, after widespread reports of troubling workplace safety and child labor incidents, including the devastating Rana Plaza collapse, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands designed a Vocational Education and Training (VET) component that fit within its larger four-year Profitable Opportunities for Food Security (PROOFS) program. The component was implemented to improve safety and labor compliance in workplaces of the informal sector, while also helping vulnerable, school drop-out adolescents find (self-)employment through vocational skills training.

The recent incident in Tongi underlined not only the continued necessity to institutionalize a safety

culture in Bangladesh, but also the need for better compliance with labor norms. Over recent years, significant strides have been made in this regard. But lots more needs to be done, particularly to reach beyond top-tier factories that are for the most part already taking decent steps to manage risks and maintain standards.

The informal sector in Bangladesh employs 89 percent of the population. Yet, this sector goes largely unregulated and unrecognized because, well, it is the informal sector. In this edition of the Monthly Newsletter for PROOFS VET, we highlight several key successes, best practices and lessons learned in making market systems work efficiently and effectively for youths. This includes sensitizing and inspiring small business owners and traders to comply with labor regulations, health and safety standards, and minimum pay and work hours.

The local traders and young workers that VET engages in the seven rural districts of Bangladesh are not easy to reach, due to both their location and the informal nature of their work. It is therefore difficult to educate this demographic on workplace safety and compliance with labor standards. VET designed and successfully implemented cost-effective and innovative modalities to engage and empower these difficult-to-reach populations. Bangladesh has a strong tradition of an informal Ostad model for apprentice training. While the sector is unregulated and unstandardized, and questions and concerns surrounding quality of training,

wage rates, working hours remain, it does serve as a sound local work culture foundation on which to build an improved and systematic VET program.

Since 2014, VET has striven to upgrade and create a ‘more formal’ informal sector by standardizing the quality of training delivered by Ostads across 16 trades, as well as by connecting local traders and their apprentices to the formal economy. In

the process, the program has empowered

nearly 3,500 adolescents and traders with

workplace safety and labor compliance

messaging, networks, and access to quality

vocational skills training and jobs/self-

employment.

VET comes to an end this October 2016. As we reflect on what we have achieved and where we should be headed, one of the most significant results for VET is perhaps the high level of responsiveness from both the traders and their young apprentices to the compliance components of the training received. The other indicator: creation of new jobs and expansion of small businesses!

We hope you enjoy reading this Newsletter, and stay connected and inspired.

Best, Laurent Umans

First Secretary, Food Security, Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands

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4Proud and CertifiedTrail of Evidence for Accreditation and Recognition

New Empowered Future: Embracing Opportunities

Safer workplaces and better business

Strengthening Local Trade Associations and Creating Networks for Sustainability

Profitable Opportunities For Food Security (PROOFS)2

PROOFS VET Newsletter

“I’m a certified TV and electrical repair expert,” shares the 17-year-old Limon Miya, beaming

with joy. Limon established a small TV servicing and sales business in June 2016 at the city corporation area of Rangpur district. A grade five drop-out, Limon now earns anywhere between 800-1,000 taka per day! Coming from a family that has traditionally been involved in pulling Rickshaw for over two generations, Limon’s income is a huge boon and will go a long way in improving the family’s well-being.

A certificate on hand can be a powerful tool. In the informal sector both employment and training is unverifiable and undocumented, limiting the ability of workers to demonstrate their competencies. For Limon, the certificate is a medal of credibility--it is proudly displayed on the wall in his shop. In Nilphamari district also in Northern Bangladesh, for graduate Shahin Alam, 21, the certificate enabled acquisition of a trade license from the local electrical trade association in his district. With a trade license tucked in safe and tight in his wallet, Shahin’s business has grown multifold. Not only does he get orders from satisfied clients and through word-of-mouth referrals, but also from the Association.

In addition to certifying apprentice along with their Ostads, VET instituted an extensive documentation system with a file maintained for every apprentice trained. Each file includes the apprentice’s application, birth registration, parental permissions and

agreement committing both Ostads and apprentice to comply with workplace regulations. Additionally, the documentation of the Ostad trade license increases security for the apprentice. Taken together, these documents create a paper trail that can be used in the future by a state sanctioned competency certification body like the Government’s Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) centers.

“VET’s practice of skill accreditation for

apprentice is a step towards Recognition

of Prior Learning by the Government of

Bangladesh,” reinforced Mr. Anwarul Islam,

Principal of the Government’s Technical School

and College in Rangpur. Speaking at a recent advocacy and linkage building workshop organized by VET in Rangpur, the Mr. Islam publicly declared that VET graduates can obtain accreditation from his institute at any time. Over the next month, VET will connect interested graduates to the RPL center as it offers the chance for nationally-recognized certification of skills.

Back at the Limon’s TV and Servicing center in Rangpur, the young shop owner Limom Miya can’t hold back his excitement as he talks about his love for the trade. “I give life to things that are broken. That’s so exciting. On good days I get to repair four to five TVs and other electrical appliances. People come to me because I can help them,” he boasted happily.

PROUD AND CERTIFIED:Trail of Evidence for Accreditation and Recognition

A grade five drop-out, Limon

now earns Anywhere

between 800-1,000

taka per day!

Vocational Education And Training (VET) Project 3

PROOFS VET Newsletter

NEW EMPOWERED FUTURE: Truly Embracing Opportunities

“Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, you feed him

for a lifetime.” VET graduates epitomise this adage. In Barishal district, Mohammed Shahin, 20, and Hasan Rabbi, 19, finished their four-month carpentry training in April 2016. Since

then, they have already established two

carpentry workshops at a busy market

in Barishal district and employ seven

other young adolescents. Their monthly revenue: 30,000 taka! It took hard work, a lot of resourcefulness, and some support -- VET facilitated access to the training and to finance. Shahin, the more entrepreneurial of the two graduates, borrowed 200,000 taka from Brac in May 2016 to start the two workshops. “VET opened new doors for us. How slow or fast we run through the door is now up to us,” he says,

resolute to keep expanding his business.

Up North, in Kurigram district, 23 apprentice got together and started a monthly savings scheme with the Nazimkhan Federation, a Farm Business Group (FBG) supported by PROOFS. Equipped with skills and confidence, they realized early on that in addition to skills they would need power tools like sewing machines to find self-employment after the training. With support from VET and the FBG, 10 of the tailoring and dress making graduates -- all girls -- successfully negotiated a weekly pocket money system as remuneration from their respective Ostads. By the time the training was over in

November 2015 the girls had 53,000 taka

saved in the account and leveraged this

money as guarantee to avail loan and buy

10 sewing machines.

“The support provided by PROOFS VET has completely changed my life,” shared Archona Rani, one of the apprentice who works out of her home but dreams of starting a shop soon. Archana gets regular orders through her Ostad as well as from her community and earns 150-250 taka on average every day.

Safer workplaces and better businessIn the Gaibandha District in Northern Bangladesh, the two welders Md. Azad Sardar and Md. Abdul Goni Akand have shops just a few minutes drive apart. Both craftsmen, now in their 30s, are old hands; they have been in the trade since their teens. Both say business has boomed in the last year. Sardar says his revenue has doubled, Akand hesitates to give a number but admits business has grown a lot. What has driven such massive growth? The underlying trend, according to the welders, is that more people are building houses and shops that require their skills. Both linked their shop’s ability to advantage of this trend to the same source: their access to reliable help.

Sardar’s reliable help is Md. Abdillah Al Mamum, a 22-year-old from a nearby village. Mamum first came to Sardar as an apprentice under the PROOFS Vocational Education Program. Akand met his reliable help, 19-year-old Bissonath Mohanto, the same way. Both craftsmen are Ostads - a teacher/mentor in the VET program. Both apprentices learned under their respective Ostad for five months before graduating from the program. Both were then hired by their former teachers.

The craftsmen had served as Ostads before the VET program. The Ostadship model, where a skilled and experienced craftsmen teaches a younger apprentice the trade while working on site in the shop, has a long precedence in Bangladesh. Families of young boys often even pay craftsmen for this service. In fact, both welder Ostads also learned their craft as apprentices to other Ostads.

The PROOFS VET project is a new twist on

an old, culturally appropriate approach. The

traditional Ostad process is informal and

can leave the apprentice vulnerable. The

formalization to the traditional process

that the project has innovated increases

apprentice protection in the following ways: y It creates a standardized, trade-specific training process that is consistent with the Competency Based Training and methodology agreed on by the ILO and Government of Bangladesh. The prepares Ostads to training and assess the apprentice using this process. A standardized training offers the apprentice more flexibility in moving shops or even cities as their skills are standardized increasing their power vis-a-vis their employers.

y The training places a strong emphasis on workplace safety and labor law compliance. Thus, Ostads become both aware and capable of implementing a workplace safety plan. Such a plan includes dealing with emergencies such as fires but also best practices such as appropriate tool storage and first aid kits.

y The project requires a tripartite agreement between the Ostad, the apprentice and the latter’s parents. This agreement makes each party aware of their duties and rights; the apprentice and his family are aware of pay scale, work hours, and workplace safety practices.

y It created a competency based assessment skill log that becomes a transferable proof of the skills acquired. Again increasing the freedom apprentices have in moving cities etc.

Though it adds to their duties, Ostads perceive the formalization as a an opportunity rather than a burden. Akand notes that compared to the four other apprentices he has trained prior to the PROOFS VET project, his current apprentice

Bissonath is by far the reliable and committed . He attributes this to the Tripartite agreement. That agreement and, quite importantly, the rituals involved with it require the apprentice, his family, and the Ostad to all be aware of the expectations and limitations on each party. In the past, Akand notes, families would often prioritize household commitments over the apprentice, leading to many more absentee days. With Bissonath, the family have taken his apprenticeship as the priority.

While the Tripartite is necessary, it may not in itself be sufficient according to the Ostads. An additional factor in the increased reliability of the student/workers is that the apprentices have been carefully selected by project staff. Indeed, even the pool of applications was based on recommendations from the local Farm Business Groups/Federations. Therefore, those selected

were more disciplined and committed to the training than those apprentices chosen

through a more random process.

With all these factors in mind, Ostads are open to the whole package - training, workplace safety and labor standards - that comes with a more formalized

program. Their enthusiasm for the project stems from the fact that it

solves the most critical problem in their growth as businesses: adequately

skilled and reliable labor. In fact, both ostads say they would double their business immediately if they had another 1 or 2 skilled and reliable employees. This dynamic ensures that formalizing the informal Ostad process provides a good way to align individual self interest with a greater promotion of better and safer workplaces.

This

agreement

makes each

party aware

of their

duties and

rights.

Profitable Opportunities For Food Security (PROOFS)4

PROOFS VET Newsletter

CASE STUDY: Catalyzing Creation of the First Multi-trade Association in BholaStrengthening Local Trade Associations and Creating Networks for Sustainability

Accessible only by water, Bhola in Southern Bangladesh is one of the most remote

districts in the country. It is also one of the most picturesque. In a country that sees its land overtaken by water every year, it is easy to imagine why an island district would be home to some of its most enterprising people.

In July 2016, PROOFS VET approached a number of business owners, traders, and shopkeepers in Bhola to see if they would be interested in joining hands to establish a Multi-trade Association and give continuity to the upgraded Ostad model for apprentice training. The answer was a resounding yes, and thus began the journey to pilot creation of a 35-member Multi-trade Association in Bhola, a process facilitated by VET.

The Multi-trade Association recently

acquired legal status, with support from

VET, giving it the formal clout needed

to negotiate, lobby, and advocate with

entities in the Government and private

sector. As a registered entity the

Association can now also begin to apply

for funding to strengthen and expand

it’s work. In August, VET provided Training of Trainers to 20 of the 35 association member, equipping them with all the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to train other local traders/business people in the Ostad training curriculum developed by program. Since then, VET has also been working to facilitate linkages with organizations like the Grameen Phone, Robi, and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society to enable access to additional technical trainings and also build capacity on topics like First Aid, Search and Rescue training.

Trade associations should be engaged for several

“Creating

synergies and

linkages adds to

the sustainability

and efficiency of the project,”

reiterates Tessa

Schmelzer.

reasons: 1) they are good vehicles through which the Ostads can feel ownership of the project; 2) association leaders are often both embedded in the community and have a strong vision to drive the growth of their own businesses, which makes them the right actor to take the knowledge of external experts and turn it into locally relevant material; and 3) strengthening the association provides it more prestige, enhances its ability

to raise funds through membership and thus make the apprenticeship

program sustainable in the long run. It would have been better

to work with the association leaders as trainers, for data collection, and for linkages with the public sector. “Since an end objective of the project was to turn over the training toolkit and process to private

sector actors the project design could have focused on facilitating

these skills as soon as the actors were mature enough to take on this

responsibility,” explains Tessa Schmelzer, PROOFS Project Manager.

The Association in Bhola has raised 44,000 taka to date from membership fees and intends to begin a revolving micro-credit scheme for

its members and also open it’s door to new members. For this, and to introduce other financial sustainability models and build capacity on how to effectively run a trade association, VET will soon train its members on management and advocacy skills.

Up North, VET adopted a ‘orient and link’ strategy to strengthen Trade Associations in the more easily accessible districts of Rangpur, Nilphamari, Kurigram, and Gaibandha. This region already has an abundance of Trade Association, many of which are led and/or participated in by VET-trained Ostads. In September, VET brought together 40 selected representatives from the trade associations, Government of Bangladesh, and Private Sector together for a deep-dive orientation on PROOFS VET. The full-day workshop in Rangpur saw renewed enthusiasm and commitment among participants as they shared and brainstormed strategies and tactics to increase access to quality trainings and decent jobs for adolescent youth with the ultimate goal of creating more jobs and expanding businesses in their districts.

Several conversations are currently underway between VET, the Trade Associations, Government entities, and Private Companies like Symphony, Energy Pac, and Ayesa Abed Foundation (Aarong). Government stakeholders from the Recognition of Prior Learning Center in Rangpur have expressed interest in certifying the VET-trained apprentices, while the Technical Training Centers could potentially offer additional classroom-based training on topics such as financial literacy, life skills, and basic entrepreneurship. Equally important, VET continues to engage with the private sector actors who have expressed interest in providing market, occupational skills training, and job support to the Associations in the future.

As VET wraps up, the platforms, networks, and relationships built between Apprentices, Ostads, Government, Private Sector, and Farm Business Groups is what will ensure sustainability of the new and improved practices introduced in the informal sector. Tessa Schmelzer, reiterates, “Creating synergies and linkages adds to the sustainability and efficiency of the project.”