Barishal Bureau

A multi-stakeholder sharing workshop was held on Thursday afternoon at the St. Bangladesh Training Hall, CNB Road, Barisal city, in collaboration with UNICEF Bangladesh and Eco-Social Development Organization (ESDO) on empowering out-of-school girls and young women with market access, vocational skills, transferable skills and job security.

Presented by ESDO-ALP Projector Barishal District Monitoring and Documentation Officer Md. Mahfuzur Rahman. Assistant Commissioner, Barishal District Administration Md. Marjanur Rahman was present as the chief guest.

Among others, present were Md. Shahid Ullah, Assistant Commissioner, Barisal, Deputy Director, Department of Youth Development, Barisal, Md. Shamim Chowdhury, Deputy Director, Department of Women Affairs, Barisal, Meherun Nahar Munni, District Social Service Officer, Ismat Ara Khanam, In-charge of ESDO ALP Project Barisal Center, Manik Mia, various NGO officials, trainees and trainees who became self-reliant after training. Also present were Subject Matter Experts Ajmiri Khanam, Marufa Akhter, Tanzila, Trainer Md. Salam and Brishti Das. Md. Faruk Hossain, Assistant Program Manager ESDO ALP Project, Barishal, delivered the welcome speech at the sharing workshop.

At this time, Susmit Sarkar, Monitoring and Documentation Officer, ESDO-ALP Project, presented the progress of the project and the overall issues and future plans.

He said about the overall project, we represent Eco-Social Development Organization (ESDO). Eco-Social Development Organization (ESDO) has been working for the overall development of rural communities in the areas of livelihood, skill development, health and education. Such as monitoring the growth of water and sanitation, nutrition, maternal and child health services, immunization, arsenic mitigation and the development needs of the marginalized communities of Bangladesh. Since its inception in 1988, ESDO's mission has been "We want a just society free from all discrimination".

We are implementing skills development and training activities for the most marginalized, poor and disadvantaged adolescent girls and young women (15-24 years) who have dropped out of formal education through Alternative Learning Programs (ALP) in seven selected districts of the country, namely Bhola, Barisal, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Gazipur, Sherpur and Jamalpur, by identifying the challenges and opportunities of the most marginalized adolescent girls and young women (15-24 years) who have dropped out of formal education, in partnership with UNICEF.

Under this project, adolescent girls and young women will be made self-reliant through skills development and training. To ensure the ultimate goal of employment after the training, the ESDO-ALP- UNICEF program will provide employment to the poor and disadvantaged unemployed young women who have dropped out of formal education through various skill development training, so that these women from poor and extremely poor families can have alternative income. In continuation of this, we organize job fairs from time to time where they can arrange a job based on their skills and qualifications. This (ALP) program provides training in three models namely Apprenticeship Training, Entrepreneurship Development and Center Based Training.

The ESDO-ALP project is running in five other districts including Bhola. Currently, three models of training are running under this project. These are Non-Formal Apprenticeship, Entrepreneurship Development and Center Based Training. Currently, 1340 people are included in Non-Formal Apprenticeship, Entrepreneurship Development and Center Based Training in Barisal. Out of which 1235 people have completed the training. Among the trained beneficiaries, 959 are in job placement in different trades.

The chief guest said in his speech that organizations like Eco social Development Organization (ESDO) are working with the backward and marginalized women of the society and have many roles to play. He wished for the continued success of this project, and also felt that there is a need for such training to enhance skills.