Training center for women in Dhaka

Women in focus

Bangladesh is one of the leading ready-made garment (RMG) exporters in the world. The RMG sector employs around 4.0 million people directly, approximately 60% of them are women. This sector plays a significant role to reduce poverty and increasing women empowerment in the country, therefore acting as a catalyst to achieve sustainable development goals.

Kappahl is working with its NGO partner TCM Foundation towards women empowerment, ending gender-based discrimination, poverty elimination and uplifting human rights in Bangladesh by running an industrial sewing training center for women on the outskirts of Dhaka, the capital. At the training center, the underprivileged women are trained in industrial sewing, as well as on their rights as workers and on other basic life skills such as financial literacy, access to financial services, health and hygiene, participation in decision making, etc.

At this center, they receive free training with allowances and join export-oriented RMG factories after successful completion. Thus, the training center significantly contributes to enhance women’s ability to contribute financially, participate in decision making, access resources, and cope with risks in the society as a whole. 

More than 1,000 women have been trained since 2009

“It was tough at the start. Free training for women with lunch included, plus a modest wage? It seemed too good to be true. There was skepticism from the local community”, says Shahanaz Begum, director of Kappahl’s training centre in Bangladesh. “But something happened. The first intake of women started working and earning a wage. They were a testament to the positive changes the centre could bring. Today, the number of applicants is higher than the number of traineeships available.”

The training centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh, has trained more than 1,000 women since it opened in 2009. The women have acquired sewing skills, reading and writing literacy and are also instructed in their rights as workers. The women receive a wage during the months spent with us and on completing the training, all the women are offered employment. . The centre is run by the TCM Foundation and is fully funded by Kappahl.