What are some of the courses and services provided by the center? How do you believe that these skills will provide marginalized workers with financial security?
Established in 2015, Ayat Skill Development Center (ASDC) strives to promote the development of a skilled workforce, especially for the youth of remote and disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. The courses are designed and conducted at ASDC to help the students gather employable and market-ready skills which help them to find appropriate jobs with a proper pay.
We provide training – not only on high market demand areas, but our training programs are also accredited by the government system i.e. Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB). Our courses in this category are especially for the construction and readymade garment (RMG) sectors. In this category, our offered courses are for electricians, sewing machine operators (SMO- RMG) and for the welding, plumbing and pipefitting technicians. We have recently initiated a driving and auto mechanics school and tailoring for the women of the community for sectoral and self-employment. The tailoring programs are targeted for the women who dropped out of school and are sitting at home, as well as young housewives, for home-based income generations. Considering the skill gap at the mid-level in the manufacturing and healthcare sectors, we have started specialized training and formal courses in the areas of palliative/end life and hospice care. Our forthcoming projects are a college of nursing and health sciences and advanced courses for professionals in the IT sector. This specialized training will definitely help the trainees in gaining more financial security and in establishing a strong footage in the job market with better bargaining power, higher pay, and better status in respective fields.
The technical and soft skills the workforce obtains through training with ASDC to help them prepare to become desirable to both local and international job markets. We work to provide our graduates with decent jobs as they complete their training with ASDC. This year we have organized a series of programs under the title ‘Dignifying Life through Palliative Care’ to promote and popularize the Palliative care issues in Bangladesh as an emerging health care issue of this country with a huge ageing population (1:5 by 2030). ASDC has conducted an international workshop on Palliative Care with the title of “End-of Life-Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC)-Train the-Trainer Program” for the senior nursing professionals and an orientation program for young physicians of public health providers/hospitals in Dhaka, Bangladesh in collaboration with esteemed faculty and trainers from Simmons College of Nursing, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Boston, MA, USA dated from 8 January, 2018 to 12 January, 2018. In this regard, we have engaged the youth community and lead media (print and electronic) houses of the country. We also receive the commitment of our Parliament members and government offices and lead ministries including the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Finance.
Tell us about your practical lab. How does hands-on and technical training help the trainees advance in various sectors?
Practical Training is at the heart of all our activities. At Ayat Skill Development Center, the training never ceases to theoretical learning and job placement. ASDC offers a 360-degree learning approach combined with the theoretical part that is backed by hands-on training at the center and then the real practical learning happens through structured apprentice/ internship/attachment programs with reputed construction, manufacturing factories of Bangladesh. In order to accommodate the available timing of the young professionals, we offer shift based/customized up-skills training courses. Our practical labs are equipped with the latest and required equipment and facilities for practical classes taken by qualified and BTEB certified trainers and instructors having a professional academic degree in each field. Our trainers are keen to monitor the quality of training and also to cater to the individual special need (applicable to the slow learner or persons with disability). Our main strength is our ‘commitment’ to do a good job with a difference. The result is evidently a high pass rate and recruitment rate (95 and 87%) respectively. In addition, we maintain a follow-up system with employers to assess the standard of our trainees and also to be at the side of our trainees to safeguard their need and interest. We maintain good contact with the reputed employers and always on the lookout of potential employers for job placement and also to keep us up to date on the new demand in the field. ASDC database is used for recording information and follow up on the latest status of our trainees. We believe in evidence-based learning.
This year we have organized a series of programs under the title ‘Dignifying Life through Palliative Care’ to promote and popularize the Palliative care issues in Bangladesh as an emerging health care issue of this country with a huge aging population (1:5 by 2030).
ASDC has had a lot of success with skill development in the RMG sector. How can that be applied to other sectors, especially in regards to empowering women?
Ayat Skill Development Center has been working intensively and enthusiastically for the betterment of women in Bangladesh. Women empowerment is to make them able so that they can make own independent decisions for their personal development. The status of women in the Bangladeshi society is still backward because of the gender inequality and cultural perception. They should not be treated as a weak gender of the society as they occupy almost half of the population of the country. ASDC provides free training to the young women under the special program (like GiZ supported) and also ensures an equal share in all of our training programs. ASDC provides them employable and life skills training and assist them in getting in a safe work environment and safe training facilities while they are associated with our programs. The AV document ‘I Can Too – is a story of a girl with a disability who with her will removed the barriers and make her place in the job market and also established her position in the mainstream of the society, not as a burden, rather a strength to her family and to the society.
You heavily focus on empowering women and helping them excel in various sectors. What are some of your future initiatives for women?
Our upcoming projects will take the women issues one step forward, a driving school to be started soon in August/18 to give space for female learners. Our college of nursing and health sciences will be dominated by female learners and the advanced computer-based courses (AutoCAD in construction and RMG) will definitely help them to make better professional choices in the respective field of work in the formal sector and will also build capacity for self-employment options.
How do you believe that a more egalitarian environment will transcend into other industries?
Running a mere ‘training center’ with routine business is not our motto. We believe in our ability and work on our strengths. We are creating examples and our commitments to the society are helping others to think differently with a fresh look and motivated soul. Our belief in human rights and capacity help us creating an impact that is also inspiring others who are not only coming forward to support our programs but also to consider to include our approaches in their business areas like an ergonomic assessment for occupational safety and health in RMG factories. The growing economy of Bangladesh, the sectoral interdependence and close net, inclusiveness, and equality are all associated factors to create that environment which will ultimately contribute making a greater impact in the business sectors and to reach larger sections of the population of this country.
Our main strength is our ‘commitment’ to do a good job with a difference. The result is evidently a high pass rate and recruitment rate (95 and 87%) respectively. In addition, we maintain a follow up system with employers to assess the standard of our trainees and also to be at the side of our trainees to safeguard their need and interest.
Could you elaborate on your affiliations and partnerships with organizations? How have they helped with driving a skill development training center forward?
ASDC works in partnership with Govt. bodies and in affiliation with some national and international organizations – some are backed by formal documentation and some are voluntary. In May 2017, the MOU signed with SUDOKKHO, the ‘Skills and Employment Program in Bangladesh (SEP-B) under partnership for implementing skills development training in RMG and construction sector. Under this program, ASDC has taken up initiatives to provide training/ courses on Sewing Machine Operation, House Wiring Electrician, Welder, Grill Maker and Plumber, as well as a Pipefitter. The partnership built with Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association- Skills for Employment Investment Program (BGMEA-SEIP) project in 2017 started with the objective of developing unskilled and semi-skilled labor force into productive and skilled operator in RMG sector. Under this agreement, ASDC has been providing skills training on Sewing Machine Operator (Woven Garments) of RMG sector.
In 2017, Ayat Skill Development Center (ASDC) signed a contract with GIZ on March 2017, to conduct skills training and job placement services for the persons with disabilities (PWDs) for the Readymade Garments (RMG) sector under Promotion of Social and Environmental Standards in the Industry (PSES II) project of GIZ. Most of our trainees were employed in large factories like Vintex Apparels, Alim Knit Apparels, Shinshin Apparels and Aman Spinning Mills Ltd. This year, our students’ attachment program with ‘Shanta Holdings’ is a good example of a partnership that allows our construction sector trainees to gain real-life quality training which will help better job placement with better pay and open up scope for overseas work. Our affiliation with SREDA (Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority, under the Ministry of Energy and Power of Bangladesh Government from 2016 allow us to mobilize remote community people and high school learners on the use of solar power in daily life/households functions. The school program with SREDA is to sensitize the future adults in the conservation of energy which is critical for Bangladesh.
ASDC attachment program for Diploma Engineering (4 years) students is for enabling the students to acquire practical training which is one of the pre-requisites of completion of the 8th semester of their academic pursuit. ASDC partnership with Winrock International in 2015 enabled us to work together on raising awareness on child protection and trafficking of young people of Bangladesh. Finally, I can assure that our steps may look small at this stage, but our vision is pushing us constantly to the long road for making a bigger impact in the coming days.
