The document summarizes the Profitable Opportunities for Food Security-Vocational Education and Training (PROOFS VET) program in Bangladesh between 2014-2016. The program worked to standardize and improve quality of on-the-job training delivered by local craftspeople (Ostads) across 16 trades to vulnerable out-of-school youth. Over 2,300 youth received skills training from 1,100 Ostads trained in topics like safety and business management. Nearly 75% of trainees have found jobs or set up small businesses, improving household incomes and supporting education for siblings.

1. Apprentice Shahin Alam,21, with his
Ostad. Alam underwenta four-month
electrical repair and maintenance
training in 2015 and is now sought-after
electrician in his village atNilphamari
district. Alam earns 10,000-12,000 taka
each month and dreams of setting up
his own workshop soon.
FACTSHEET: Profitable Opportunities for Food Security-
Vocational Education and Training Program
Alam displays his trade license next to
his tools. Upon completion of the
training,Alam was certified by PROOFS
VET. That certificate enabled acquisition
of a trade license from the local
electrical trade association in his district.
Shahin’s business has grown multi-fold.
BACKGROUND
There are 42 million youth between the ages of 10 and 24 in Bangladesh.
Over 18.3 million youth are unemployed. Nearly 40 percent are out-of-
school (dropout). Nearly 5 million are victims of child labor. The youth
bulge represents a challenge, but also a tremendous opportunity.
In 2014, after widespread reports of troubling workplace safety and child
labor incidents, including the devastating Rana Plaza collapse, the
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands launched a Vocational
Education and Training activity as part of the Profitable Opportunities for
Food Security program. The goal was to help vulnerable drop-out-of-
school adolescent youth find (self) employment through vocational skills
training, while also improving safety and health standards in workplaces
of the informal sector.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Between November 2014-October 2016, the Profitable Opportunities for
Food Security-Vocational Education and Training (PROOFS VET)
program worked to standardize and improve the quality of the on-the-job
training delivered by local master craftspeople/traders (Ostads) across 16
trades in seven districts of Bangladesh and to connect local traders and
their apprentices to the formal economy.
PROOFS VET focused on the informal sector and adopted an approach
referred to as the Ostad model for apprentice training. Rationale included
1) apprenticeship is a very old and successful private system of learning
vocational skill; 2) apprenticeship is accessible in remote and rural areas;
3) apprenticeship is a part of the National Skill Development Policy 2011
of Government of Bangladesh; and 4) the informal sector employs 89
percent of the population.
Over its life, PROOFS VET standardized training toolkits across the 16
trades and trained local traders on workplace safety and health
standards, code of conduct for pay and work hours, occupational skills,
assessment of apprentices, and business management. Working with and
through the local traders, PROOFS VET trained adolescent youth in
practical vocational skills and connected them to jobs.
The VET intervention worked with the PROOFS’s Farm Business Groups
where other interventions worked simultaneously. Through the integrated
approach all the interventions were designed to improve the quality of life
of all 80,000 PROOFS-supported households.

2. APPROACH
VET adopted an approach referred to as
the Ostad model for apprentice training.
 16 profitable and market-demand
driven trades identified through
survey.
 Training toolkits (Ostad training
manuals, Apprentice assessment
sheets, certificates, Ostad self-
assessment checklist) developed
and standardized in compliance
w ith the National Technical
Vocational Qualification Framew ork
and Bangladesh Technical
Education Board pre vocational
level-2.
 Local traders identified and
selected to serve as Ostads
(Master Craftspeople).
 PROOFS’s Farm Business Groups
identify and recommend vulnerable
out-of-school adolescent-youth for
training.
 Parents, Farm Business Group
member, Ostads, and Youth
brought together to publicly sign an
agreement that lays out the role
and expectations from each party.
 Ostads trained on various topics
including health and safety
standards, code of conduct on pay
& w orkhours, occupational skills,
and business management skills.
 Apprentice undergoes 2-5 month
training w ith Ostads.
 Apprentice are monitored and
evaluated during before, during,
and after the training.
 Apprentice and Ostads are both
certified.
 Apprentice either start their ow n
business (self-employed) or are
linked to a job.
FACTSHEET: Profitable Opportunities for Food Security-
Vocational Education and Training Program
IMPACT
PROOFS VET targeted the most vulnerable, out-of-school youth between
15 to 22 years of age. The trained apprentices have found skills-based
work in their villages and nearby cities but have also become employers
themselves by setting up small businesses. These new-found incomes
are contributing to increases in household incomes, and raising the
quality of life for thousands of rural families through improved food,
nutrition, and water, hygiene and sanitation situation and by supporting
continuity of their siblings/children’s education.
 Innovative, cost-effective tools introduced and embed to train
Ostads and apprentice and upgrade the informal Ostad model for
apprentice training: three-part Ostad Training Manual; Skill and
Competency Assessment Sheets; Ostad Self-Assessment
Checklist; and Tri-Party Agreement.
 1,100 local traders (Ostads) trained to become better teachers,
smarter business owners. The traders are expanding their
businesses, instituting safer workplace practices, and will
continue providing quality on-the-job vocational training to other
young adolescents.
 2,300 young adolescents trained in practical vocational skills
through Ostads and connected to jobs and local trade
associations. 75 percent of the trainees have already found jobs
or set up small businesses.
 Nearly 47 percent of the trainees i.e. 1,084 are girls and young
women. Many have broken gender-barriers and are empowering
their families.
 Over 3,500 households sensitized on child labor norms and
benefit from increased incomes. Field observations demonstrate
that increased incomes go towards educating siblings.
21-year-old Kavita Rani participated in a four-month tailoring and dress making training
in November 2015. Today, Rani runs her own business, has a reliable access to
market and earns 7,500 taka every month. With money on hand, her top priority:
making sure her sister gets to stay in school and goes to college.