Creating New Agro-Food Processing Job Opportunities

In Bangladesh, the COVID-19 pandemic was particularly hard for women and young people. Many lost their source of income or could not complete their education, thus jeopardizing their future. Those who had migrated to cities or abroad in search of better opportunities were forced to return — and still faced significant challenges in finding new jobs. The pandemic had a considerable impact on the economy as well, and the food processing sector was among the most affected. Companies experienced a drop in demand, higher costs, and a lack of skilled workforce.

The Shamortha+ Activity is working with private sector partners in the food processing industry to enhance their business resilience, increase production, and train and hire job seekers from marginalized or vulnerable people groups.

Through this USAID-funded project, Helvetas Bangladesh and private sector partners such as PRAN are working in 5 districts to train and employ 6,000 job seekers from marginalized backgrounds. These program participants include returning migrant workers, women and youth (ages 18-29). Job seekers will be trained and employed in high-demand occupations across the agro-food processing industry such as baking, packaging and quality control.

The project is also working to improve the skills and boost the knowledge of 2,500 people already working in food processing companies.

To ensure the training program is inclusive, flexible and sustainable for the food processing industry after Shamortha+ concludes, e-learning modules have been developed and integrated into the training program. Training participants attend a series of in-person sessions led by food processing industry master trainers, complete e-learning modules on their own time, and then are assessed and employed upon training program completion.

Through Shamortha+, Helvetas Bangladesh will also develop new marketing strategies for food processing companies, reinforce their preparation to face future crises and advocate for improving the food sector business environment.

Ultimately, this intervention will contribute to country’s economic growth and fight poverty through business recovery and the economic well-being of marginalized populations in Bangladesh.

This project is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this website are the sole responsibility of Helvetas and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.