$29m WB loan to support vulnerable women in five northern districts

FE Report The World Bank (WB) board Friday approved US$29 million loan for Bangladesh aimed at creating employment opportunities for vulnerable women in the country's impoverished northern districts, the lender said Saturday. The WB will disburse the loan to the government for providing training, transitional housing, counselling and job placement services for the poor women to apparel industries located in the export processing zones (EPZs). Under the Northern Areas Reduction of Poverty Initiative (NARI) project, the government will cerate job opportunities for nearly 10,800 women in Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, and Rangpur districts. There is lack of employment opportunities in Bangladesh's northern districts which suffer from seasonal deprivation and famine-like situation, a phenomenon known as "monga". The Washington-based lender said the investment in Bangladesh will be the first of its kind within the South Asian region giving specific focus on the empowerment of vulnerable women through employment in the formal sector. Migration of poor women from the monga-prone northwestern districts of Bangladesh for formal employment in the garment sector is substantially lower than that of poor women from other parts of the country. "Over 80 per cent of three million workers in the thriving garment sector are women. Yet, they are often vulnerable: young, poor, sometimes illiterate and often single," said WB country director in Bangladesh Ellen Goldstein. The project aims to link the growth poles of Bangladesh's rapidly expanding garment sector to one of the poorest and vulnerable groups in the country. Selected poor and vulnerable women from the five northern districts will be helped to find job in Dhaka, Karnaphuli, and Ishwardi EPZs where dormitories and training centers will be constructed. The training centres will accommodate 300 trainees at a time. The dormitories attached to the training centres will accommodate 600 women for a transitional period of six months. This will allow three more months for graduates to find permanent housing after completing the training. The credit from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's concessionary arm, has 40 years to maturity with a 10-year grace period. It carries a service charge of 0.75 per cent.