Bangladesh : Supporting Technical Education and Skills Development Facility
Bangladesh has achieved robust economic growth, averaging more than 6.0% since 2011 and recording 8.1% for FY2019. Such strong growth has been driven by steady expansion and surge in export-oriented manufacturing industries, such as ready-made garment, textile, leather, and food processing. The service sector is also growing, including retail, health care and tourism. Despite sustained growth during the past decade, the country faces tremendous challenge in developing a skilled, competitive workforce that can meet emerging skills needs in the local and global labor markets. The working-age population is expanding fast from 87 million in 2011 to 119 million by 2026, with 2 million potential new entrants to the labor force every year. More than half of the labor force have only primary education or less; and less than 4.0% of the working-age population (aged 1559) had received any technical or vocational training. Youth unemployment rate has risen from 4.0% in 1991 to more than 10% currently.
Project Details
-
Project Officer
Li, Zhigang
South Asia Department
Request for information -
Country/Economy
Bangladesh -
Sector
- Education
| Project Name | Supporting Technical Education and Skills Development Facility | ||||||||||||||
| Project Number | 42466-018 | ||||||||||||||
| Country / Economy | Bangladesh |
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| Project Status | Active | ||||||||||||||
| Project Type / Modality of Assistance | Technical Assistance |
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| Source of Funding / Amount |
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| Operational Priorities | OP1: Addressing remaining poverty and reducing inequalities OP2: Accelerating progress in gender equality OP6: Strengthening governance and institutional capacity |
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| Sector / Subsector | Education / Technical and vocational education and training |
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| Gender | Effective gender mainstreaming | ||||||||||||||
| Description | Bangladesh has achieved robust economic growth, averaging more than 6.0% since 2011 and recording 8.1% for FY2019. Such strong growth has been driven by steady expansion and surge in export-oriented manufacturing industries, such as ready-made garment, textile, leather, and food processing. The service sector is also growing, including retail, health care and tourism. Despite sustained growth during the past decade, the country faces tremendous challenge in developing a skilled, competitive workforce that can meet emerging skills needs in the local and global labor markets. The working-age population is expanding fast from 87 million in 2011 to 119 million by 2026, with 2 million potential new entrants to the labor force every year. More than half of the labor force have only primary education or less; and less than 4.0% of the working-age population (aged 1559) had received any technical or vocational training. Youth unemployment rate has risen from 4.0% in 1991 to more than 10% currently. To sustain the country's growth path and reap the benefit of demographic dividend, the country needs to invest in its human capital resources and develop a well-trained and highly-skilled workforce. Rapid technology advances are also affecting Bangladesh industries, altering the nature of jobs which demand higher levels of technical and cognitive skills while reducing demand for low-skilled jobs. | ||||||||||||||
| Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy | To develop job-ready and demand-responsive skills among youth for successful transition into the labor force, modern technical education and training systems are necessary. However, the capacity and quality of technical education and skills training in Bangladesh are inadequate to meet current or emerging demands for requisite skills. First of all, curriculum is largely theory-based and has limited relevance to today's requirements in industries. Second, training facilities and equipment are too outdated to deliver current or emerging technical skills, and the overall capacity is insufficient to accommodate increasing numbers of youth to be trained. Third, the supply of qualified trainers is limited, and the existing trainers have not updated their pedagogic and technical skills to adapt today's training requirements. Finally, there is lack of credible assessment and certification systems to ensure the quality of training systems. Consequently, technical education, including polytechnics, has not led to successful employment, showing a job placement rate of less than 50%. To ensure that young people are equipped with requisite skills in line with labor market demands, significant improvements are needed in the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system as well as the overall skills development system. Improving the TVET system is important for ensuring inclusive development, as the trainees in technical institutes are mostly from low socioeconomic backgrounds, who may not pursue a higher education. | ||||||||||||||
| Impact | |||||||||||||||
| Project Outcome | |
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| Description of Outcome | |
| Progress Toward Outcome | |
| Implementation Progress | |
| Description of Project Outputs | |
| Status of Implementation Progress (Outputs, Activities, and Issues) | |
| Geographical Location | Nation-wide, Bangladesh |
| Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects | |
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| Environmental Aspects | |
| Involuntary Resettlement | |
| Indigenous Peoples | |
| Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation | |
| During Project Design | The TA design is a result of consultations with government counterparts and other key stakeholders. Their inputs have been fully incorporated in the TA design. |
| During Project Implementation | The implementation of the TA is undertaken in close consultation with government counterparts, key stakeholders and consultants engaged by ADB under the TA. The consultants were fielded with the concurrence of Finance Division, Ministry of Finance. Regular consultations are ensured through review missions. |
| Business Opportunities | |
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| Consulting Services | The TA facility will initially provide 77.5 person-months' consultant inputs (31 person-months international and 46.5 person-months national) to support the preparation of ensuing projects and implementation of ongoing projects. The consultants will be recruited using individual consultant selection method and deployed based on the requirements of each project being prepared or implemented. Individual consultant selection, rather than firm selection, is considered appropriate, because the TA facility involves multiple activities that are not necessarily interdependent and will require a varied range of consultants and services. ADB will engage consultants following the ADB Procurement Policy (2017, as amended from time to time) and its associated project administration instructions and/or staff instructions. |
| Procurement | NA |
| Responsible ADB Officer | Li, Zhigang |
| Responsible ADB Department | South Asia Department |
| Responsible ADB Division | Human and Social Development Division, SARD |
| Executing Agencies |
Finance Division, Ministry of Finance |
| Timetable | |
|---|---|
| Concept Clearance | - |
| Fact Finding | - |
| MRM | - |
| Approval | 27 Apr 2020 |
| Last Review Mission | - |
| Last PDS Update | 14 Dec 2022 |
TA 9966-BAN
| Milestones | |||||
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| Approval | Signing Date | Effectivity Date | Closing | ||
| Original | Revised | Actual | |||
| 27 Apr 2020 | 15 Jun 2020 | 15 Jun 2020 | 30 Jun 2023 | 30 Jun 2024 | - |
| Financing Plan/TA Utilization | Cumulative Disbursements | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADB | Cofinancing | Counterpart | Total | Date | Amount | |||
| Gov | Beneficiaries | Project Sponsor | Others | |||||
| 2,000,000.00 | 500,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 2,500,000.00 | 25 Jan 2023 | 1,157,295.12 |
Project Data Sheets (PDS) contain summary information on the project or program. Because the PDS is a work in progress, some information may not be included in its initial version but will be added as it becomes available. Information about proposed projects is tentative and indicative.
The Access to Information Policy (AIP) recognizes that transparency and accountability are essential to development effectiveness. It establishes the disclosure requirements for documents and information ADB produces or requires to be produced.
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| Title | Document Type | Document Date |
|---|---|---|
| Supporting Technical Education and Skills Development Facility: Technical Assistance Report | Technical Assistance Reports | Apr 2020 |
Safeguard Documents See also: Safeguards
Safeguard documents provided at the time of project/facility approval may also be found in the list of linked documents provided with the Report and Recommendation of the President.
None currently available.
Evaluation Documents See also: Independent Evaluation
None currently available.
Related Publications
None currently available.
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Tenders
Contracts Awarded
| Contract Title | Approval Number | Contract Date | Contractor | Address | Executing Agency | Total Contract Amount (US$) | Contract Amount Financed by ADB (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Preparatory Technical Assistance | Technical Assistance 9966 | 08 Nov 2022 | KOREATECH Industry - University Cooperation Foundation (KOREA) | Korea University of Technology and Education, 1600, Chungjeol-ro, Byeongcheon-myeon, Dongnam-gu, -si, Chungcheongnam-do Cheonan, Republic of Korea | Finance Division, MOF | 409,200.00 | — |
Procurement Plan
None currently available.