COEL—a pioneer in skill development

An editorial titled Garments Workers' Skill Development, published in the Financial Express on May 18, 2015, correctly recognised the opening of the Centre of Excellence for Bangladesh Apparel Industries (CEBAI) last month as "a defining moment in the country's readymade garments industry" for training, awareness building, skilling and productivity improvements. The editorial suggested that it should be "a model for other manufacturing sectors such as leather and leather goods, footwear, light engineering, textiles, handicraft and so on to replicate it."
In fact, the leather footwear and leather goods export industry pioneered this very concept in 2009 in Bangladesh through the creation of Centre of Excellence for Leather (COEL). Originally set up entirely through private sector-led initiative as a direct response to a specific industry need, COEL later received invaluable support from USAID, ILO, EU and SDC in its journey. Industry-led demand for a multi-skilled workforce and increased growth of the leather industry, led a group of key industry stakeholders to form a formal committee as Industry Skill Council (ISC) facilitated by the EC-funded TVET Reform Project of ILO, an initiative of the Government of Bangladesh.
Centre of Excellence for leather Skill Bangladesh Ltd (COEL) is the nation's first institute of its kind. The objective of COEL is to increase and improve the overall skill level of the workforce of the leather sector. The training centre of COEL is situated at Pallibiddut, Chandra, Gazipur which serves as the hub of COEL's Leather Skill Training Programmes. For now, this 12,000-sqft area has an up-to-date setup to carry out professional training programmes for 300 trainees at a time. Other than the main training centre, COEL, with joint collaboration with the interested factories, is also in the process of establishing sub-centres to increase the productivity of the respective factories.
VISION OF COEL: To become a worldwide reputed Centre of Excellence in serving Bangladesh leather sector through knowledge and skill development programmes.
MISSION OF COEL: To facilitate the leather sector with required knowledge and skills for product innovation, quality and compliance.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AT DIFFERENT LEVELS:
* Machine Operator   10,745 enrolled
* Supervisory Training: 102 graduated and placed and 50 more currently receiving training
* BMET 1st Apprentice certification ceremony
* Machine Maintenance Technician: 30 graduated and placed
* ToT Programme: 25 trainees completed their training
* NTVQF Level 1: 22 enrolled in the 1st batch and 16 successfully completed the course

Until today COEL has trained and, more importantly, placed in quality jobs almost 12,000 young men and women, many from low-income, disadvantaged backgrounds with skilled occupations mainly in the leather footwear and leather goods industry.
As a result, COEL is, in fact, a case study for skills-based apprenticeship models in Switzerland, and has also been discussed in the EU parliament for its role in poverty alleviation through skills training. Most importantly, it can serve as a template for other sectors in Bangladesh to build upon and we are delighted and honoured that CEBAI is pursuing the same path for the all-important RMG export sector of our country. COEL is now engaged in developing a long-term strategic vision for itself so that it can move beyond training and skills development to being truly and sustainable, world class institution that can help the industry grow even faster in the future.
The writer is Chairman, Centre of Excellence for Leather Skill Bangladesh Limited (COEL)