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Final Report On CYP National Consultation Dhaka
Final Report On CYP National Consultation Dhaka
Dhaka
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. BACKGROUND 4
2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6
- Inauguration ceremony 9
3. SUMMARY OF DISCUSSIONS
- Youth unemployment: Global scenario 10
- The Bangladesh policy context 11
- Role of NGOs, corporate sector and other agencies 15
- Role of Financial and other public sector institutions 16
- Role of Entrepreneurship Education 17
i. Emphasis on skill development 18
ii. Sectoral opportunities in Bangladesh 20
- Recommendations 21
- Conclusions 24
4. ANNEXES
- List of participants 25
- Concept / Background note 28
- Programme Agenda 31
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Abbreviations
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Background
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at Port of Spain, Trinidad and
Tobago in November, 2009 through a historic statement entitled Declaration on Young People:
“Investing in Young People” affirmed as follows:
We note with concern that unemployment affects young people more than any other
social group.
We seek to enhance the Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative (CYCI), by turning it into
an integrated and holistic enterprise development programme built around
comprehensive and mutually reinforcing skills development, funding, and mentorship
for youth in partnership with civil society and business.
We pledge to engage a considerably wider range of funders and partners, including our
own Ministries of Youth, international finance institutions, regional organisations,
banks, and businesses to devise projects to promote youth enterprise.
It further recognised the importance of access to finance and called for the development of
domestic financial markets with specific emphasis on micro-finance and micro-credit in support
of poverty alleviation and economic democratisation programmes, particularly for marginalised
groups including youth and women. It also emphasised the need for comprehensive skills
development in promoting the environment for investment. Of the 49 countries that attended
the Meeting, 34 were represented by their Heads of State or the Government.
In response to the above declaration, the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) organized
four Regional Conferences which fed into the Pan Commonwealth Conference hosted by the
Commonwealth Secretariat, London. With a cross section of stakeholders that included ILO,
World Bank, UNESCO, UNIDO, other international agencies, financial Institutions, policy makers
from various ministries, chambers of commerce and the corporate sector, Regional Youth
Caucus members, youth organizations and youth networks, experts and academics, members
from civil society organisations and NGOs, these conferences aimed at discussing global and
regional trends and issues in youth entrepreneurship/enterprise development, sharing good
practices, identifying challenges and providing strategic directions on broader youth
employment related policies and programmes.
One of the outcomes of the regional conferences was the proposal for organizing national
level consultations to discuss and devise strategies to address youth unemployment with a
focus on youth enterprise in an integrated way through interventions (at the national level).
Key objectives were reviewing existing policies and programmes, advocating the creation of a
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national level platform and forging partnerships for implementing effective and innovative
youth entrepreneurship strategies and programmes.
In pursuance of the above, a national level consultation on investing in youth employment with
a focus on youth enterprise and entrepreneurship development was organized in Dhaka,
Bangladesh by the CYP Asia Centre in partnership with the Ministry of Youth & Sports,
Government of Bangladesh, the SME Foundation, Dhaka and sponsored by the AB Bank,
Bangladesh from June 7 to June 9, 2011. The consultation had a clear focus of bringing out
workable recommendations with an emphasis on a strong strategic coalition to accelerate
youth enterprise and entrepreneurship in the country.
Further, financial regulations / guidelines with a youth friendly focus and collateral free loans
for marginalized young people, under the ambit of a national financial inclusion policy, and the
critical role of financial institutions and banks were advocated as a key strategy together with
the understanding that under the National Youth Policy (NYP), a National Action Plan (NAP)
should be formulated comprising a well laid out monitoring and evaluation framework.
While the National Youth Policy of Bangladesh contains provisions, which lay emphasis on self-
employment by means of technical education in order to prevent the exodus of rural youth to
urban areas of the country, the Government’s policy of offering skill development and self
employment training programmes, however, has time and again faced criticism for being
neither ‘need based,’ nor ‘updated’ on a regular basis. As a result, there has not been much
success in enabling or generating a high rate of self-employment in Bangladesh.
Given this scenario, the consultation succeeded in giving a call for action with regard to
accelerating youth enterprise and self employment promotion, for stimulating a policy debate
on this urgent matter in light of the dismal youth unemployment rate in the country, and for
measures to remove the obstacles that stand in the way.
Based on the discussion at the consultation, this report is an attempt to present the key
deliberations and major recommendations and strategies discussed to accelerate youth
enterprise and entrepreneurship in Bangladesh.
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Executive Summary
Bangladesh has been successful in achieving significant poverty reduction since the 1990’s and
is presently considered to be one of the fastest emerging economies in the world. In keeping
with its progress in reducing income poverty, Bangladesh has also seen rapid gains in a number
of key education and health outcomes. Future gains in reducing poverty will require
productivity growth in agriculture and job creation in the industrial and services sectors.*
(World Bank 2008)
Youth population in Bangladesh is presently 50 million -an estimated 32.7% of the total
population of which 80% live in rural areas. Only 15 million are currently employed, 23 million
are partially or under-employed and the rest 12 million are fully unemployed. In 2020 the youth
population is expected to reach upwards of 60 million. Creating gainful employment for the
youth in Bangladesh is therefore high on the nation building agenda.
Recognizing the fact that a disciplined, organized, trained and educated youth community can
make significant contribution to the development process, the government has taken up
various measures for reducing unemployment and to shape its socio-economic uplift. One of
the key national targets under Bangladesh’s Vision 2021 is to reduce youth unemployment
rate by 15%. Growth of SMEs is considered as a driving force to achieve this. In the light of this,
self-employment and enterprise development is being considered as an important strategy in
national youth development efforts, and Bangladesh is increasingly seeking to orient youth to
explore the enterprise option.
In this context, a three day national consultation on investing in youth was held to encourage
technical discussions with a view to reviewing existing policies and devise strategies/guidelines
to promote youth enterprise in an integrated manner. In addition, the consultation also
highlighted CYP’s efforts at improving employment generation in Bangladesh through
promoting entrepreneurial skill development, an enabling culture and accelerating self
employment among young people.
In essence, it summed up the Bangladesh government’s focus that states, ‘Youth employment
generation with a focus on youth enterprise is a must to make the country a middle income
one by 2021’.
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Against this backdrop, the participants in the national consultation unanimously underscored
the following action areas:
National Youth Policy (NYP) needs to be demand driven along with a well crafted
strategy and time bound action plan with adequate resource allocation.
NYP to be more clearly connected to broader national policy frame work including Five
Year Plan, PRSP, National education policy, industrial policy, SME policy etc.
NYP to be reviewed and revised from time to time
Policy review of all relevant ministries to ensure convergence
Regular Policy audit/monitoring of implementations
Mainstreaming youth issues in all policies of public and private sector initiatives
MOYS & DYD’s role needs to be more clearly defined – more active and effective role
envisaged
MOYS & DYD to play a pivotal role in creating a national level platform with all relevant
stakeholders
Private sector should be actively involved in the government’s effort to address the
problem of youth unemployment in the country.
Creation of a National Youth Council to ensure youth participation in policy dialogue,
and monitoring and evaluation of youth development programmes
SME Foundation to play an effective role in SME Youth entrepreneurs and enterprises
development
Actionable strategies:
MOYS – should undertake policy review, revision, monitoring and coordination; review
of existing training programmes: content, methodology etc.
National strategy and action plan on promoting youth entrepreneurship and enterprise
development under the broader National Entrepreneurship and Enterprise
Development Program.
Other relevant government ministries/depts. - policy audit and alignment with NYP.
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Banking institutions - Bangladesh Bank to craft youth friendly financial inclusion policy,
youth credit initiatives while commercial banks to recognize youth as a bankable client
segment and undertake youth credit initiatives.
NGO's- to raise youth voice in policy debate and capacity building of youth
entrepreneurs.
SMEF -to facilitate and bring together the public and private sector stakeholders on
youth issues; provide business development and incubation services as well as capacity
building; encourage youth entrepreneurs through activities like business plan
competition etc
Skill training based on skill demand of local industries and overseas job market
Life skills and entrepreneurship education in the educational curriculum at the primary
level
One -stop service centre at the sub district level for youth entrepreneurs
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Inauguration ceremony
Honourable Minister, Ministry of Industries, Mr. Dilip Barua was the chief guest at the inaugural
ceremony of the three-day National Consultation in Bangladesh. Mr. Md. Ahad Ali Sarkar, MP,
State Minister, Ministry of Youth & Sports, Mr. Aftab ul Islam, FCA, Chairperson, SME
Foundation and Mr. Rajkumar Bidla from the Pan Commonwealth Office of CYP, London attended
as special guests while Mr. Mahbub Ahmed, Secretary, Ministry of Youth & Sports presided
over the inaugural session. Joint Secretary, Mr. Gazi Mizanur Rahman of MOYS, Mr. Aminul
Islam Khan, CYP Asia Centre and Dr.Nurul Quadir of SME Foundation also attended the
programme among others.
The ceremony was attended by representatives from various ministries & departments
including Ministry of Youth & Sports, Education, Labour & Employment, Social Welfare,
Industries, Micro Credit Regulatory Authority (under the Ministry of Finance) as well as the SME
Foundation of Bangladesh, public and private sector banks, chambers of commerce, corporate
sector, training institutions, international organizations including the ILO, and the UN. Leading
NGOs, youth organizations, the media as well as young women entrepreneurs including the
three who were honoured with the National SME Women Entrepreneurship Award for 2010,
were also present at the inaugural ceremony.
Opening remarks
Mr. Dilip Barua underscored the need for creating skilled young entrepreneurs and
government’s priority to create an entrepreneurship friendly culture in Bangladesh. He urged
the affluent sections of the society and the corporate sector to create and cultivate role model
entrepreneurs and to come forward to supplement the government’s efforts in this regard. He
further suggested that the government’s financial inclusion policy would focus on youth
entrepreneurs, and collateral-free loans to be increased from its present limit of 2.5 million ($
35,000) to a higher slab in the future. The Minister assured that he would provide all kinds of
support for promoting youth enterprise in Bangladesh.
Mr. Md. Ahad Ali Sarkar, State Minister of Youth and Sports reiterated his commitment to work
whole heartedly for youth development in general, and youth enterprise in particular, in
Bangladesh. He assured that he would certainly look into the suggestions and outcomes of the
consultation.
In highlighting the need to attract young people towards entrepreneurship, Mr. Aftab ul Islam,
FCA, Chairperson, SME Foundation agreed upon setting up a dedicated help line desk for
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young entrepreneurs and also directed the SME Foundation to include an enterprise
programme for young entrepreneurs in the next year’s work plan. He also spoke about the
necessity of reducing interest rates on bank loans for increasing the number of entrepreneurs
in the industrial sectors. He emphasised on the need to review the existing policies and
strategies and called for developing an integrated and comprehensive approach.
With regard to tackling youth unemployment, Mr. Mahbub Ahmed suggested optimum
utilization of the large number of disguised labourers, presently engaged in agriculture and
industrial sectors and also in the informal sector. He also emphasised on the need for designing
local and overseas demand driven training curriculum for the youth. He agreed that an effective
and integrated coordination mechanism between the private and public sector is needed to
address youth unemployment in the country.
Highlighting CYP’s conviction that youth enterprise is one of the most viable options for both
employment creations as well as for the stimulation of economic growth in the Commonwealth,
Mr. Rajkumar Bidla spoke about CYP’s role in building the capacity of member governments to
address youth entrepreneurship development. While felicitating the outstanding work
pioneered in Bangladesh to support disadvantaged men, women and young people in the area
of micro and small businesses, he underscored the government’s role in making coordinated
efforts to scale it up and sustain the work. He also emphasized that youth employment is a
multi-sectional area, and in this regard clarified CYP’s critical role in starting dialogues with
policymakers and other stakeholders.
In the next 5 years, over a billion young men and women will enter the labour force worldwide.
These 1.3 billion young people (to be precise) will compete for only 300 million jobs. Today, out
of the current 88 million youth, one out of three is either seeking but unable to find work, has
given up the job search entirely or is working but living on less than US $2 a day. Ironically,
young people actively seeking to participate in the world of work are two to three times more
likely than older generations to find work. Almost 90 percent of the unemployed youth are
living in the developing countries globally and the Asia region itself accounts for 55 percent of
this population. Of this, South Asia accounts for 26 percent of the youth population and the
number is likely to increase by 12.1 million by the year 2015.
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While the total number of young women and men unemployed throughout the world accounts
for 41 per cent of all the unemployed people globally, these figures do not take into
consideration the underemployed youth worldwide. Many more young people are working long
hours for low pay, struggling to eke out a living in the informal economy. A dangerously large
population of the youth is engaged in hazardous forms of work.
Given this situation, reducing youth unemployment and underemployment is one of the major
challenges facing most governments in the world today. The problem, sadly, is only getting
worse. There was an estimated 81 million unemployed youth in the age group of 15-24 at the
end of 2009, which means 7.8 million more unemployed youth since 2007. Global economic
recession further exacerbated the situation and youth unemployment rate rose from 11.9 to
13.1 percent in a short span of less than 5 years.
While the need for employment creation efforts focusing on youth is undeniable, given the
existing scenario, self employment represents a significant way to tackle unemployment and lift
people out of poverty. Worldwide there is a growing conviction that youth enterprise is one of
the most viable options for both employment creations as well as for the stimulation of
economic growth. Nurturing and supporting young entrepreneurs is therefore fast emerging as
a necessary constituent of the overall national development agendas.
In the context of Bangladesh*, the youth population is presently 50 million -an estimated 32.7%
of the total population. Youth thus constitute one third of the total population of Bangladesh.
80% of them live in rural areas. Only 15 million are currently employed, 23 million are partially
or under-employed and the rest 12 million are fully unemployed. By 2020 the youth population
is expected to reach upwards of 60 million.
Creating gainful employment for the youth in Bangladesh is therefore high on the nation
building agenda. Recognizing that a disciplined, organized, trained and educated youth
community can make significant contribution to the development process, the government in
Bangladesh has taken up various measures for reducing unemployment and to shape its socio-
economic uplift.
*As per the national youth policy, the population in the age group of 18-35 years is considered to be youth in
Bangladesh.
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One of the key national targets under Bangladesh’s Vision 2021 is to reduce youth
unemployment rate by 15% - Growth of SMEs is considered as a driving force to achieve this.
In line with this, the government provides a broad and comprehensive policy mandate for
promoting self-employment and enterprise in the country.
Policy context
In order to delve further into the policy context of youth enterprise support system in
Bangladesh, the consultation discussed the key policies and programmes available in the area.
These are briefly described below.
1. National policy for youth development (NYP) - Formulated by the Ministry of Youth in
2003, the national policy contains provisions which put much emphasis on self-
employment, through practical education and skill development training, utilization of
local resources and by providing micro credit at low rate of interest
2. Youth programmes of DYD – Offer skill development training programmes, self-
employment programmes for trained youth, and credit programmes (group and
individual)
3. Proposed National Education Policy 2010 - Under the Ministry of Education –
emphasizes on self-employment based education.
4. National SME Policy – Was formulated by the Ministry of Industries in 2005 to provide
special emphasis on developing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as a thrust sector
of the country.
5. The SME Foundation - Organizes skill development trainings to cover a range of sectors
and fields. It also channelizes funds to the SME entrepreneurs through designated bank
and non bank financial institutions.
6. SME loan policies formulated by the Bangladesh Bank - Provides relatively cheaper
funds to the commercial banks and financial institutions which might encourage them
for financing the small and medium enterprise sector.
a. Women entrepreneurs’ get special preference under this policy; they are
allowed to get certain amount of loan without collateral.
b. It has instructed banks to announce their targets for a particular year and
allocate at least 40% of total targeted amount for small entrepreneurs.
c. In this policy, manufacturing and service sectors are given preference over the
trading sector to yield greater productivity and to generate more employment in
the economy
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Besides these, the role of other ministries that have responsibility towards youth development
including, rural development and cooperative-microcredit and social welfare - for
disadvantageous youth, were also discussed.
Despite the above mentioned policies and programmes that are in place under the different
ministries, agencies and departments, Bangladesh has yet to witness significant progress
towards youth enterprise and entrepreneurship development and its promotion in the country.
In this context, the national consultation sought to understand the missing links and the gaps
and how these can be bridged effectively.
One of the critical issues in Bangladesh, the participants noted, was that the National Youth
Policy does not address how to increase youth employability; neither does it give any concrete
direction on youth enterprise, which it acknowledges, is one of the most effective ways to
reduce the unemployment rate in Bangladesh. Experts further reported that one of the main
obstacles faced in this area is the lack of knowledge and commitment toward youth enterprise
in the government. In this regard, the consultation substantially mulled over the overall
political/ national priority to youth employment and specifically the youth ministry’s role and
influence on the overall policy-making process, which needs to be considerably strengthened in
order to ensure that youth enterprise related issues do not remain marginalized within the
government.
In addition, other major disadvantages and shortcomings in the policy formulation areas that
were identified included:
Inadequate policy framework – NYP not clearly connected to broader national policy frame
work
No guideline for implementation – NYP not translated into time bound Action Plan
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In terms of funding priority, it was observed that budget allocation for youth enterprise in ADP
is rather poor. The consultation noted that the total allocation by ministries related to
enterprise development, youth employment and youth development per se has seen a serious
deceleration in Bangladesh. This is further supported by the declining budget allocation for
promoting youth employment across most of the industries during the last three years, as well
as, by an equally scanty allocation for social welfare, women affairs and the youth sector, which
has on the whole seen a sharp decline in FY2010-11. With budget allocation for one-third of the
country’s population staying at 0.10% of the total budget in 2010-11, youth skill development
training and self-employment programmes, the consultation noted, have naturally been
affected adversely.
In view of these, participants unreservedly noted that in order to address the above challenges
and concerns –a policy makeover is not enough. In this context, CYP shared international best
practices, including the Kenya Youth Enterprise Development Fund, Indonesia Youth
Employment Network, and Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative (CYCI) in order to highlight
successful approaches around comprehensive and strategic programmes on youth
entrepreneurship, as well as, effective coordination and implementation of such programmes,
all of which needs to be intensified in Bangladesh.
Additionally, the roles and responsibilities of other stakeholders – NGO’s, the corporate
sector, chambers of commerce and industry, financial institutions, banks and other agencies
were deemed equally critical to innovative youth enterprise related skill development
programmes and support services in Bangladesh. The following section of this Report goes into
these areas.
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The consultation noted that despite the increasingly important role of NGO’s in youth
enterprise development, there is a dearth of NGO’s working in the area of youth
entrepreneurship in Bangladesh, and the few that are there, lack the direction and capacity to
act as catalysts for mainstreaming youth issues.
Emphasizing the role of leading NGO’s in the area, participants were familiarized with BRAC’s
activities in the area of microfinance, in terms of providing loans to both male and female
entrepreneurs to start new enterprises and, support and expand existing ones that are too
small to qualify for credit from commercial banks. Participants were also taken through BRAC’s
adolescent programmes providing livelihood training in different trades and financial education
linked with its microcredit programme to help young people start their own business, targeting
the age group of 14 to 25.
Given this backdrop, participants gained further insight into the roles and responsibilities of
NGOs, which, as the consultation observed, cannot be underestimated. From undertaking
research, which is a missing link in youth enterprise, to the dissemination of research findings
within and outside their vast networks, to providing the much needed marketing and
mentoring platform for hard to reach and disadvantaged youth, to advocacy -playing the
important role of creating awareness around enterprise and entrepreneurship development, to
engaging with the government and policy makers in projecting the collective voice and
concerns on youth enterprise, NGOs were probably in the best place to act as the much needed
pressure groups to make the government more aware and accountable.
In addition, experts agreed that a strong and clearly guided collaboration with the civil society is
essential for the public sector and the private sector in creating a strong base for youth
entrepreneurship mainstreaming. In order to streamline linkages and communication between
the government and these groups, experts discussed the advantage of forming a national level
platform on youth enterprise and related concerns, which would co-ordinate input to
government.
The consultation also underscored the critical role of the corporate sector and industry
chambers, drawing attention to their bargaining power and the power to convene, their
networks and infrastructural access, along with their financial ability to provide platforms and
forums for showcasing entrepreneurs thereby increasing their bankability and visibility. Further
underpinning the corporate sector’s role as a catalyst in advancing youth enterprise,
participants spoke about the sector’s access to industries in aiding the growth in youth led
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enterprise options, and instituting awards and recognition programmes to showcase role
models.
The private sector, as the participants observed, needs to be encouraged and motivated to
contribute to youth enterprise training, and promote active participation of role model
entrepreneurs at the national and international level, as part of their social responsibility.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma, while on his recent visit in the Caribbean,
encouraged banks to play their part in addressing youth unemployment. He emphasized that
national governments by working with other partners to provide financing, mentorship and
training for young people could ensure business success and good returns on the investment
for all. Senior bankers present at the meeting agreed that a coordinated and focused effort was
needed to support youth employment and enterprise.
While the above brings to light the enormously critical role banks, financial institutions and
non-banking financial institutions have in supporting and advancing youth entrepreneurship in
Bangladesh, finance, as the participants of the national consultation noted, is ironically one of
the biggest constraints in youth enterprise and self-employment with not many financial
institutions coming forward to serve the youth due to a preconceived notion that youth are
high-risk and high-cost clients without any collateral assets.
To refute this notion, best practices programmes such as the Commonwealth Youth Credit
Initiative (CYCI) and the Youth Access to Microfinance in Indonesia were showcased in the
consultation. These programmes, as the participants learnt, have disproved the
abovementioned notions of youth being non-bankable. On the contrary, youth borrowers
actually have equal to or slightly higher repayment rates than the total clientele, as proved in
the majority of Indonesian microfinance institutions (MFIs) and average around 22% of the
clientele.
Additionally, the session drew attention to the Commonwealth’s youth financing initiative with
national bankers– to harness, through a series of capacity building and innovative financing
mechanisms, a range of skills and encourage young entrepreneurs as well as those seeking
employment in up-coming enterprises. Financial institutions in India, Kenya and Mozambique
are already involved in the initiative.
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Added to the issue of demand for funds always surpassing supply, the consultation discussed
the need to make financial interventions and resolutions more youth friendly - most funds have
caps -which prevents young entrepreneurs from obtaining the required and expected amount
of working capital (in the form of loans). Participants also discussed the advantages of skilled
labour force being organized into groups and be provided easy access to finance by banks.
Participants further observed that the role of loan providing could be tackled purely by public
and private sector and other banks, and a coherent strategy on how to better rationalize and
coordinate this issue through better linkages between public sector banks and the public sector
institutions should be worked out.
In the above context, the deliberation insisted that an inclusive financial policy is a must as is
the case for the Reserve Bank of India, which has issued a guideline for a comprehensive
financial inclusion of the marginalized section of the country. Two public sector Banks in India,
namely, the Central Bank of India and Corporation Bank have already piloted youth enterprise
financing projects in a number of districts of India in collaboration with the Commonwealth
Secretariat.
The focus of this session was around three key issues / challenges –
The inability of the educational system to provide the appropriate labour force needed by
the market,
The mismatch between the demand for young workers and the supply that seems to be at
the root of their weak integration into the labour market, and
The incapacity to reach the youth in spite of a reasonably large base of educational and skill
/ vocational training system in Bangladesh with an overwhelming majority of young people
available and accessible,
To counter this, experts at the national consultation in Dhaka agreed that on the supply side, a
well linked educational and training system through a closer cooperation between government
and the private sector would facilitate a smoother transition from school to work and/or to self-
employment.
Furthermore, the discussions noted that education and vocational trainings need to be
designed around the informal economy, where most young working people are found in
Bangladesh, as in other developing countries. In addition, vocational training needs to be
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complemented by remedial education for the many young workers in the informal economy
who may have been dropped out of the educational system at an early stage. Another critical
concern included involving family in non formal educational programmes to trigger mindset
changes and aid youngsters in managing risks and the fear and experience of failure.
Participants also underscored the need to reform the education system in order to integrate
entrepreneurship education into mainstream education and in this regard, the necessity for a
curriculum overhaul was discussed.
In this session, participants revisited the youth population in relation to the employment- rate
statistics in Bangladesh, which convey that while 12 million youth are unemployed, 23 million
are under-employed. The present unemployment rate for this age group is 15% higher than
that that of 1990’s and uncomfortably higher than both India and Vietnam. It is estimated that
by 2020 the number of unemployed youth in Bangladesh would reach 60 million.
The ‘Bangladesh Vision 2021’ focuses on meeting the skill training needs of the youth and the
skilled labour force requirement of the country by-
Increasing skill development rate by 10-15% per annum;
Partnership with development agencies to reduce poverty with sustainable
development by 15-20 % per year;
Reforming the skill development system to empower all individuals and ensure
Bangladesh's competitiveness in the global market to be recognized globally by 2025;
Minimizing skills mismatch (Quality and Quantity) across industries --targeting 25% by
2015 and 50% by 2020;
Ensuring a digital Bangladesh as committed to in the 2011-2012 national budget by
2021.
Given this reality and the abovementioned goals, the consultation noted the following:
1. It is imperative to bring back the alienated and marginalized youth into the economic
mainstream by helping them address issues that arise from joblessness. With regard to
this, the following suggestions were made:
Expand capacity of existing educational and training facilities
Implement non-formal education to develop capacity building
Launch programmes to upgrade the educational attainment of young drop-outs and
low achievers from the formal education system
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2. The consultation noted that the concept of skills and vocational training through non-
formal channels, in relation to youth enterprise and entrepreneurship, requires an
image makeover in Bangladesh. The key issues that were raised included:
People giving additional weight to formal education because of the certificates and
awards associated, based on a traditional mindset
The country’s social system shuns employment outside of the traditional white-
collar job circuit
The university /higher education system –occupying a place of overwhelming
importance in the educational system, should be more directly linked to the solution
of unemployment problem and play a more active role in encouraging young men
and women to seek self-employment
3. The educated youth need to be provided opportunities to choose and build their
profession according to their interest and aptitude.
4. The current admission age (18 years) for youth skill training centres (YTC) under DYD
may be reduced to accommodate youngsters who drop out of school early and are more
prone to becoming vulnerable to frustration, drug addiction, anti-social activities, eve
teasing and family disrespect.
5. Additionally, the present skill gap in the labour force needs to be addressed – middle to
senior management jobs across various sectors in Bangladesh have attracted a huge
number of Indian workers (60,000 technicians/professionals are presently working in
different sectors of the country). The leather sector alone requires a skilled labour force
of 30,000 in the current year. Similarly, the world’s biggest footwear factory is being set
up at Chittagong in Bangladesh and is targeting a skilled force of 30,000 to 40,000
workers. Moreover, FDI is expected to come in the leather sector, particularly from
Taiwan and China with availability of skilled people increasing further. Likewise with
regard to the current focus on high quality light engineering industry in Bangladesh.
With all these opportunities, the critical question that was raised was-Where is the
skilled labour coming from?
Given the above challenges and opportunities, the consultation mulled over the need for an
Industrial Skills Council (ISC) to act as the apex industry body on skills development and
engaging with a host of stakeholders to serve as a one point service center on any issue on the
crucial subject.
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In Bangladesh, about 78 percent of the labor force is engaged in informal sector activities
(agriculture and informal services). Agriculture alone employs 48 percent of the labor force,
while its GDP share is less than 20 percent. However, as the deliberations pointed out, the
growing labor force can no longer be fully absorbed by an agriculture based Bangladesh
economy. In this context, the deliberations emphasized on the need to encourage SMEs and
self-employment based non-farm activities covering both rural and urban areas as crucial for
employment generation.
In addition, other alternative options becoming popular amongst the youth were discussed as
under:
IT Out sourcing (RB-NRB Linkage)
E-Commerce and Web Based project
Graphic designs, Softwares and other related products
Mobile Technology
Media-Print, Electronic and Internet
Tourism
Fashion Designing and Dress Making
Health and Health care
Activation Companies
Music, Dance, Choreography and other innovative sectors
Different service sectors
All of this, the deliberations pointed out, would require strong policy support, including a clear
policy on skill development which embodies strategic interventions for improving the education
system and its integration with entrepreneurship education.
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Recommendations
In view of the above, noting that the existing facilities with regard to youth enterprise need to
be made more adequate and relevant, what emerged from the deliberations was a
comprehensive set of strategies and recommendations that are presented below:
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Conclusions
In conclusion, and in view of the commitment of the Ministry of Youth to review and upgrade
the National Youth Policy with a focus on prioritizing youth employment and enterprise, the
consultation resolved to share the key recommendations on youth enterprise and
entrepreneurship development in Bangladesh (presented above) with the Ministry of Youth and
other key partners, with the aim to bring out a National Strategy and Action Plan under the
Ministry of Youth and well integrated into the national youth policy development framework.
The Commonwealth Youth Programme, in particular, underscored the need for Government to
initiate dialogues with national level banking and financial services sector with a view to
formulate youth friendly financial guidelines to support youth enterprise initiatives. The CYP
also offered to provide technical assistance on youth enterprise programmes and projects
through the Commonwealth Technical Cooperation Fund whereby it has placed expert
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As a way forward, CYP will now help undertake the accomplishment of the commitments made
by various stakeholders to promote and accelerate youth enterprise development in
Bangladesh, including the Arab Bangladesh Bank’s interest to support a Youth Financing Project
in partnership with the Ministry of Youth, the Mutual Trust Bank’s interest to support and pilot
a youth enterprise related project in partnership with the SME Foundation, the Bangladesh
Bank’s commitment to craft youth friendly financial inclusion policy / guidelines and the SME
Foundation’s concurrence to set up a dedicated help line desk for young entrepreneurs.
ANNEXES
National Consultation in Youth Employment with a Focus on Youth Enterprise , Dhaka
1) Participants’ list
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Cell phone number : 01716 264416 Program Manager (Policy Advocacy & Research)
E-mail : salmasonia@yahoo.com SME Foundation, Dhaka
Mobile: 01714 133003
E-mail: amsayeef@smef.org.bd
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2) Concept Note
Background
Young people in the developing world as well as in Bangladesh have either limited or no job skills
training and self-employment opportunities. Moreover, developing countries’ labour markets are not
fully equipped to put youth to work. There are not enough jobs in the public and private sectors to
absorb the millions of youth in the labour market. In relation to youth led entrepreneurship/enterprise
development, it is pertinent to mention that setting up a new venture has never been easy for a young
person.
A nation’s ability to participate in the global economy is largely determined by its citizen’s access to
quality education and training, decent employment opportunities, and an infrastructure that promotes
and supports entrepreneurship. It is, in this context that our education system has an essential role to
play in enabling young entrepreneurs to acquire the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.
Governments should thus encourage entrepreneurial education in our schools, colleges and universities
and promote the same through non traditional, community-based means that value real life
experiences.
Access to finance
Coordinated efforts
Young entrepreneurs receive some assistance from a range of non-governmental organisations, private-
sector initiatives, educational institutions and government agencies, but in many countries this web of
support is inefficient and inconsistent. Hence, there is a felt need to make concerted efforts to build a
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strategic coalition on youth enterprise wherein all relevant stakeholders bring in their expertise,
experience and resources with a view to promoting youth enterprise. Government should encourage
strategic collaboration and cooperation among organisations across the public, private and non-profit
sectors, both within countries and across the Asia region.
This economic crisis is forcing national governments to reassess their policies and programmes,
especially those related to employment and business creation. Limited formal jobs as a result of the
economic crisis may have served to induce some youth (more likely the more educated and privileged)
to establish their own businesses that hired others. In this context self employment promotion has
become an integral part of national strategies that aim at creating sustainable employment for the
youth as an alternative career option. This should be regarded as a positive development considering
the paucity of jobs in the formal sectors.
Review of National Youth, Employment, and Education policies along with national development
framework to promote youth employment
National Youth and Education Policies do invariably touch upon the issue of youth employment.
However, since the concerned Ministries are not the nodal Ministries for employment, policy documents
brought out by them merely highlight the problem without offering a solution in the form of an action
plan. Therefore, the need for a National Action Plan on Youth Employment well integrated into the
national policy development framework is an absolute imperative. The National Youth Policy being the
critical policy instrument for youth may support the National Action Plan on Youth Employment besides
the two other policies, namely, National Employment Policy and National Education Policy and must not
be seen as a standalone policy instrument. An organic linkage between these policies which mainstream
youth employment strategies into the national development strategies and establishment of an
effective institutional mechanism with adequate resource allocation may be regarded as lying at the
heart of the issues relating to youth employment.
The Youth Employment Network (YEN), comprising the United Nations, ILO, and the World Bank as core
partners, was established following the Millennium Summit to give priorities to youth employment on
the development agenda and to disseminate policies and programmes to improve employment
opportunities for young people. As a result, youth employment issue has gained momentum at the
national level. It has also formulated a set of guidelines for preparation of National Action Plans on
Youth Employment and stands committed to provide technical assistance to the lead country.
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The CYP’s Strategic Plan (2008-2012) focuses largely on the need for addressing youth enterprise as a
viable means to tackling the larger issue of youth unemployment. This is sought to be achieved through
advocacy and partnership with various stakeholders in the formulation of an integrated action plan and
sharing of good practices in the member countries including its own i.e. the Commonwealth Youth
Credit Initiative (CYCI). Realising the importance of youth enterprise/entrepreneurship development, the
Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) piloted Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiatives (CYCI) in
different regions of the Commonwealth with a view to supporting young people to set up their
businesses.
The results from the CYCI experiment proved that young people are bankable to credit and as a result,
some member governments have launched their own Youth Credit Programme or set up a Youth
Enterprise fund to support youth enterprise in their countries. CYP seeks to strengthen the CYCI, by
turning it into an integrated and holistic enterprise development programme, which is built around
comprehensive and mutually reinforcing skills development, funding, and mentorship. Moreover, CYP
has a high level of commitment for youth enterprise which has been well articulated in the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2009 in Trinidad and Tobago. It is relevant to mention
here that Heads of Government in their meeting in 2009 committed to support a new initiative which
should engage a considerably wider range of funders and partners, including Ministries of Youth, Labour
and Employment, Banking; international finance institutions, regional organisations, banks, and
businesses.
The CYP Asia Centre in partnership with Ministry of Youth and Skills Development, Sri Lanka has
organised a conference from 22-24 February 2011 on Investing in Youth Employment with a view to
bring relevant stakeholders together to discuss regional trends and challenges in youth
entrepreneurship/enterprise development and also to provide strategic directions to the participants on
broader youth employment related challenges and trends. Bangladesh participated in this conference
with 6 member delegations comprising of senior officials from Ministries of Youth and Labour, BRAC,
PKSF, SME Foundation and Bangladesh Bank.
In line with the Regional Conference held in Colombo, the Commonwealth Youth Programme in
partnership with its nodal Ministry of Youth & Sports, Government of Bangladesh, SME Foundation and
other stakeholders are proposing to organize a national consultation to devise strategies to address
youth unemployment in an integrated way.
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3) Agenda
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16:00 to 17:00 Investing in youth employment with a focus on youth enterprise- Why and
How?
Chair : Dr. Mahabub Hossain
Executive Director
BRAC
Presentation by : Professor Dr. Kamal Uddin
Director
Institute of Appropriate Technology, BUET
Presentation by : Francis Dilip De Silva
ILO Country Office for Bangladesh
Presentation by : Ejaj Ahmad
President
Bangladesh Youth Leadership Centre (BYLC)
Followed by Q.A
10:00 to 11:30 Day Three: 09-06-2011, Thursday
11:30– 12:00 Tea break
12:00-13:30 Sharing good practices:
-CYCI
-Kenya Youth Enterprise Fund
-YEFI (Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank-Commonwealth secretariat
Initiative)
-IYEN (Indonesian Youth Employment Network)
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15:30-17:00 Group work to discuss and to suggest : Workable strategies to promote youth
enterprise programmes
Strategic directions for building Commonwealth coalition on youth
employment
Strategic partnerships and resource mobilisation for youth enterprise
programmes
Methodology
Participants will be divided into three working groups to brainstorm on
the issues discussed above and prepare their group presentations
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