Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The World Bank will provide US$ 29 million for creating jobs in the country’s Export Processing Zones (EPZs) for 11,000 poor women of the country’s northern Monga-prone areas.
The government signed a financing agreement with the World Bank on Sunday in this connection for the Northern Areas Reduction of Poverty Initiative (NARI) project, a World Bank press statement said.
Economic Relations Division (ERD) secretary Iqbal Mahmood and World Bank country director Ellen Goldstein inked the agreement at NEC-II conference room in city’s Sher-e-Banglanagar.
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 percent.
The project will help the vulnerable women overcome the difficulties of migration and get a chance to successfully adapt to a new life, the World Bank said.
NARI project would facilitate successful migration of around 11,000 poor women from five northern Monga-prone districts – Gailbandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, and Rangpur.
These women would receive technical and life-skills training, transitional housing, counseling and job placement services. Migration of poor women from the impoverished northwestern districts to formal employment in the garment sector is substantially lower than that of poor women from other parts of the country.
The project will also undertake awareness raising activities in the pilot districts. The candidates, to be selected through a screening process, will be helped find employment in Dhaka, Karnaphuli, and Ishwardi Export Processing Zones (EPZ).
BBN/SSR/AD-04Dec11-11:48 pm (BST)
