A training programme under the Northern Area Poverty Reduction Initiative (NARI) project was undertaken to train unemployed women of North Bengal and to reduce poverty through employment generation has been commenced.Md. Mujibul Haque, State Minister, Ministry of Labour and Employment formally inaugurated the training programme at Dhaka EPZ at Savar on Monday, said a BEPZA press release. The project was undertaken as per the direction of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to facilitate the poor and vulnerable women from lagging areas of North Bengal through this training program and also access to employment opportunities in the garment sector. The project funded by World Bank was supervised by Ministry of Labour and Employment and operated by Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA).Major General Mohd Habibur Rahman Khan, Executive Chairman, BEPZA presided over the programme. Mikail Shipar, Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment attended as special guest.Among other, Miah Abdullah Mamun, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment and from BEPZA Abdul Halim Molla, Member (Investment Promotion), Nazma Binte Alamgir, General Manager (Public Relations), Nafisa Banu, Deputy Project Director (NARI) & Chief Accounts & Finance Officer, Md. Lokman Ali, General Manager (Security), Md. Abdus Sobhan, General Manager of Dhaka EPZ including the higher officials of Ministry of labour, BEPZA and concerned personnel of the project were present in the programme Md. Mujibul Haque said, the project has been undertaken for poverty reduction through skill development and job opportunities of poor women of Northern region of the country.He said that this is the first project of its kind in Bangladesh for training women of garments industry including accommodation facilities. If the project is successful, it would be the role model for establishing modern training centre in other places of the country.Mikail Shipar, Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment said, the prime minister showed the dream to inspire women of the northern region to go forward. She has established EPZs in the northern region and this training centre with dormitory has made the initiative successful for the poor and vulnerable women of Rangpur Division.Major General Habibur Rahman Khan said, “We are determined to build the Golden Bengal of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Accordingly, the present government is working to implement Vision of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to be a middle-income country by 2021 and developed Bangladesh by 2041 in order to make the country prosperous.BEPZA is marching ahead to build economically stronger Bangladesh and contributing a lot as a proud partner and playing a pivotal role in socio-economic development, he added.General Habib said, “We are happy to initiate the training programme of Northern Area Poverty Reduction Initiative project. BEPZA is proud as the maker of skilled workforce to continue the future economic growth of Bangladesh.” Mentioning the EPZs as bonanza of expert labour force and dream entry of women development he said, so far more than 450 thousands workers are employed in the eight EPZs of the country out of which 65 percent are female.Executive Chairman of BEPZA said that half of the population of Bangladesh is women; therefore the women development will make the country flourishing.Project Director & General Manager (MIS) of BEPZA Md. Hafizur Rahman said that three dormitories cum training centre have been built in Dhaka EPZ, Ishwardi EPZ and Karnaphuli EPZ in Chittagong on the area of 15 Acres of land.900 trainees with a total of 300 in each batch will be trained on technical & life skill training in three months training program. A total of 10,800 nos. of women would be trained to get employment opportunities in garments sector.
