Chevron Bangladesh has partnered with Swisscontact and Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) in establishing a skill training institute in Sylhet.
Chevron Bangladesh, the US operator of three gas fields—Bibiyana, Moulvibazar and Jalalabad in Sylhet—will set up the training institute, aiming to create a skilled workforce and provide easy access to vocational training for youths of SCC, said a press release.
The scheme will be implemented under the Swisscontact Bangladesh’s Uttoron project, funded by Chevron’s Bangladesh Partnership Initiative for which an agreement has been signed among the parties.
This Public-Private Partnership (PPP) offers an impetus to achieve the Bangladesh government’s Sustainable Development Goals per the Skills Development Policy 2011.
The training facility will have an initial capacity to provide training to 1,200 youths annually on four industry-demanded trades - electrical installation & maintenance, welding, plumbing pipe fitting, and housekeeping.
The event took place at the Dhaka Westin hotel. The agreement ceremony was attended by SCC Mayor Ariful Haque, Eric M Walker, president of Chevron Bangladesh, Muhammad Imrul Kabir, corporate affairs director of Chevron Bangladesh; and Mujibul Hasan, country director of Swisscontact.
Ariful Haque said: “Lack of skilled workers is one of the biggest challenges our country is facing right now. Unfortunately, as a result of this, we are losing business to our competitors. The only way to encounter this is by creating a more skilled workforce, providing appropriate training, and equipping them for the market's ever-changing demands."
Chevron Bangladesh’s President Eric M Walker said, “The training facility will provide an excellent platform to kick-start the technical and vocational careers of thousands of aspiring youths, bringing about long-term, sustainable improvements for them, and the families that depend on them."
Since its inception, Swisscontact has believed that access to skills, knowledge, markets, technologies and financial services will give people the ability to liberate themselves from the shackles of poverty, said Swisscontact Bangladesh’s Country Director Mujibul Hasan.
Uttoron: Skills for Better Life is a three-year project that Swisscontact is currently implementing in Sylhet and Dhaka divisions and is set to expand its work to Khulna.
Apart from establishing a training institute, the project aims to provide vocational training to 2,000 youths and introduce internationally certified advanced welding training for the first time in Bangladesh.
In addition, it has already introduced a new trade, Packaging & Finishing Operation, to meet the demands of the packaging industry for the first time in Bangladesh.
The trade has already been validated by the National Skills Development Association and approval from the Prime Minister’s Office is currently underway.