Centre of Excellence for the RMG industry in Bangladesh (H&M-ILO)

The immediate objective 1 (An industry driven training and support service Centre of Excellence (COE), to meet the skilled labour force needs of the export oriented RGM industry in Ashulia and surrounding areas is established) was supported by four outputs, such as establishment and making COE functional with self financing, RMG factories have capacity to implement enterprise based training as an effective model, delivery of consistent, pre-employment and industry-oriented training with national certification by training providers, and strengthening the assessment and certification capacities of CoE and Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB). The main achievement under this objective was the Centre of Excellence known as Centre of Excellence of Bangladesh Apparel Industry (CEBAI) has been recognized as Registered Training Organization (RTO) for Sewing Machine Operation national skill certificate level-1 & 2 as well as RTO to run competency based training and assessment (CBT&A) national certificate level-4 by allowing TOT and assessments on CBT&A for trainers & assessors both from industry and institutes. CEBAI launched training programmes for workers, mid-level management and trainers and assessors, initially from March 2015, but more actively in planned manner after September 2016 and achieved following results: * Trained about 1,309 workers in the Competency Based Training (CBT) program in Ashulia, of these, 893 workers assessed and provided with certification on sewing machine operation NTVQF Level-1 by BTEB * Trained 103 mid-level managers and 66 factory supervisors on key leadership skills including occupational safety and health, disability inclusion and workers’ rights. * Trained 262 EBT Competency Based Training and Assessment Level-4 trainers and assessors (36% female) and 137 of them achieved certification from BTEB. CEBAI prepared 3 researches in collaboration with the academic and research institutions, reviewed its business plan and prepared a new one for 2018-2022, developed financial and accounting manual, conducted 2 seminars (Sustainable CEBAI and efficiency through EBT model, Inclusive Business Policy) and 1 roundtable ($50bln RMG Export and the role of CEBAI), developed 1 documentary and more than 80 articles, news supplements, activity related news covered by Daily Bangla, English Newspapers, online news portal, monthly-bi-monthly newspapers and launched the website https://cebai.org/. CEBAI has also developed Competency Skills Log Books (CSLBs) of Sewing Machine Operation 4 RMG sub-sectors, and Competency Based Learning Materials (CBLMs) of Sewing Machine Operation 4 RMG sub-sectors which are fully in-line with the national TVET-programmes. Total of 453 skilled workers were assessed by BTEB in the RPL model at CEBAI on sewing machine operation NTVQF Level 1 and 2. Project has collaborated with existing training providers, in particular 3 NGOs (UCEP Bangladesh, Dhaka Ahsania Mission and Muslim Aid) and 1 Technical Training Center (TTC) for being able to reach the set training targets. There are two more results achieved by the COE Project under IO1, namely Accreditation of CEBAI for the assessment of NTVQF Level 2 on SMO and preparing Competency Standards of RMG sub sectors knit, woven, lingerie and denim as per industry demands.  In addition, all targeted 10 RMG factories have joined the Enterprise Based Training (EBT) program and got registered as training organization accreditation from BTEB. They have started competency based training on sewing machine operation national skill certificate level-1 & 2 with the technical guidance of the project. During end of project period in 2017, 3 more RMG factories have joined the Enterprise Based Training program.  During the project period, both EBT companies and CEBAI have enrolled total 11,702 fresh workers and 10,383 have completed job and got job placement in different factories, out of it 90% female workers.  Under the Immediate Objective 2 (To improve the situation of vulnerable and poor people who are or who become garment workers by enhancing their skills, income opportunities and working conditions, while providing the RMG sector with a more skilled workforce), the project had one output which focused on improved training and employment outcomes for women and disadvantaged groups. The result achieved by the project was the development of the inclusion policy for RMG sector which advised selected RMG enterprises to train and employ people with disabilities. In addition, assisted selected three enterprises with the development of operational plans for ensuring the implementation of the adopted inclusion policies at selected enterprises, prepared a small audio-visual documentary to showcase the policy and to demonstrate benefit of adopting inclusive business approach. Further project has organized a National Seminar on “Inclusive Business: Could it Lead to Higher Productivity and Better Working Condition”, and provided 300 (85% female) extreme poor or marginalized people with pre-vocational course at machine operator by partner 2 NGOs.  In summary, project has been able to achieve most of it’s targeted results excepting establishing CEBAI as a fully functional and self-sustainable centre of coordinator of services and key actors in the garment sector.