DIGITAL AUGMENTATION PROJECT

The Commonwealth of Learning supported project’s main goal is to strengthen the resilience of local CSOs and TVET actors in order to provide Technology Enabled, open and distance skills training for improving the lives and livelihoods of female youth in rural areas of Bangladesh, specifically Sundarban Mangrove Forest areas in the country’s southwestern coastal region.

Bridging the Gender Gap in Bangladesh's Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Sector

Women’s participation in Technical and Vocational Education and Training ((TVET)  in Bangladesh ranges from 9 to13 per cent in public institutions and 33 per cent in private institutions. This is, of course, a great imbalance, particularly in TVET sector which is interconnected with skill development training. In the year 2021, female shared slightly higher than 25 per cent which means out of every four students in technical and vocational education, only one is female. Family barriers, early marriage, location of TVET centres, inadequate training module, poor infrastructures and a general lack of acceptance from society also act as constraints.

THEORY OF CHANGE OF THE PROJECT

Theory of Change (TOC)

Over the course of the project, the overarching program goal is to increase the employability of female youth in Bangladesh by creating long-term, market-oriented resilient TVET opportunities and to build a gender-sensitive TVET ecosystem. The logic by which program activities will contribute to this goal is outlined in the Theory of Change (TOC) below:

IF Civil Society Organization (CSOs), TVET providers have improved technological, organizational and technical capacity to deliver technology Enabled TVET services to female youth living in remote and marginalized communities ; IF local CSOs and TVET providers are equipped with knowledge and organizational capacity to develop Technology Enabled TVET courses and Learning Management System(LMS);  IF TVET are provided using open and distance mode; THEN they will reach larger numbers of women in remotest areas lacking access to TVET services and adequate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure;

IF unemployed, unskilled, out of schools female youth gain greater market-oriented TVET skills and are linked with the local private sector and potential employers;

THEN there is a higher likelihood that they will access job opportunities and improve their lives and livelihoods.