The beginning of a new journey: Building Youth Employability Through Skills (BYETS)

Upskilling and Reskilling, Labour market insertion
09.03.2023
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Bangladesh announced the official launching of the BYETS project which was held at Swisscontact office. The project will empower Bangladeshi youth with improved technical, employability and entrepreneurial skills.

Building Youth Employability Through Skills (BYETS) project was formally launched on March 8th, 2023, at the Swisscontact office, Bangladesh. The Building Youth Employability through Skills (BYETS) is a four-year-long project supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) and implemented by Swisscontact. Anne van Leeuwen, Honorable Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Bangladesh, Tanzila Tajreen, Senior Policy Advisor, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangladesh, Manish Pandey, Regional Director, Swisscontact, Mujibul Hasan, Country Director, Swisscontact Bangladesh, and Nadia Afrin Shams, Team Leader of the BYETS project were present during the inauguration ceremony among others.

BYETS aims to empower Bangladeshi youth with improved technical, employability and entrepreneurial skills, and connect them to income-generating opportunities, namely, jobs and self-employment. The project will enrol 25,000 youth into training programs (including 50% women) across three sectors- Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Readymade Garments (RMG), and Agro Processing (AP) and four divisions which are Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna, and Rajshahi.

The project will address the existing constraints in developing the skills of the youth and support in establishing a systematic approach to providing market-driven training. The initiatives and expected outcomes of the project will contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4 (Quality Education), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth),5 (Gender Equality), 10 (Reduced Inequality), and 13 (Climate Action).

During the event, Manish Pandey highlighted the importance of bringing 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. 

"Act according to what you observe, be flexible, be adaptive, be opportunistic in a good sense."
Stated by His Excellency, Anne van Leeuwen, he expressed his support of the project's approach and reinforced his support with his words.
2022 - 2026
Bangladesh
Upskilling and Reskilling, Labour market insertion
Building Youth Employability through Skills (BYETS)
The Building Youth Employability through Skills (BYETS) project will empower Bangladeshi youth with improved technical, employability and entrepreneurial skills, and connect them to income generating opportunities: jobs and self-employment. BYETS will partner with Training Service Providers (TSPs), government, industry, and employers to create a conducive environment for the targeted youth that would facilitate employment opportunities for them.