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Swisscontact launches project to empower youths

Dutch Embassy supports the Building Youth Employability through Skills project


Published : 09 Mar 2023 02:10 AM | Updated : 09 Mar 2023 12:33 PM

Swisscontact, a Swiss non-profit organisation, has launched a project aimed at empowering Bangladeshi youths with improved technical, employability and entrepreneurial skills, and connect them to income generating opportunities such as jobs and self-employment.

Anne van Leeuwen, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Bangladesh, announced the formal launch of the project -- Building Youth Employability through Skills (BYETS) -- on Wednesday (March 8) at the Swisscontact Bangladesh office in Dhaka, says a press release.

Supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN), the four-year project is being implemented by Swisscontact, which carries out projects aiming at reducing poverty in developing and transition countries by private sector development.

Tanzila Tajreen, Senior Policy Advisor at Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangladesh, Manish Pandey, Regional Director at Swisscontact, Mujibul Hasan, Country Director for Swisscontact Bangladesh, and Nadia Afrin Shams, Team Leader of the BYETS project, were also present at the inauguration ceremony, among others.

According to the press release, BYETS will enrol 25,000 youths, including 50 percent women, into training programmes across three sectors – information and communication technology (ICT), readymade garments (RMG), and agro processing (AP) – in four divisions – Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna and Rajshahi.

The project will address the existing constraints in developing the skills of the youth and support establishing a systematic approach to imparting market-driven training.


The release says that the initiatives and expected outcomes of the project will contribute to SDG goal 4 (Quality Education), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 5 (Gender Equality), 10 (Reduced Inequality), and 13 (Climate Action).

Anne van Leeuwen, in his speech at the launching event, supported the approach the project is taking. He said, “Act according to what you observe, be flexible, be adaptive, be opportunistic in a good sense.”

Manish Pandey highlighted the importance of bringing a systemic change for a greater impact by working with the government along with the private sector.

Nadia Afrin Shams mentioned how the team will monitor, learn, reflect and take an adaptive management approach for ensuring the best practice is applied for implementing the project.