Standard Chartered Bangladesh and BRAC have announced the launch of a Covid-19 response initiative that will work with returnee migrant workers to ensure economic self-reliance through skills and entrepreneurship development, a release said.
The Standard Chartered Foundation is financing the two-year project titled “Covid-19 recovery: Entrepreneurship Training and Gainful Employment for Returnee Migrants Affected by Covid-19 in Bangladesh”.
According to the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, more than four lac (400 thousand) migrants returned to their home country within a year due to the ongoing pandemic. Recent BRAC survey findings suggest that half of the returnee migrants could not find gainful employment upon their return.
Under this project, the returnee migrants affected by Covid-19 will be supported with emergency arrival assistance, counselling, entrepreneurship training followed by in-kind financial assistance as business award money to start their new business, which will support their sustainable economic reintegration.
The project will also link beneficiaries with microfinance institutes (MFIs) to facilitate access to finance and provide emergency and psycho-social support.
The project will identify and trace beneficiaries through several sources, including the airport, community members, hotline and other referrals. Three Reintegration Support Centres will be established under the project. Preference will be given to more vulnerable demographics, particularly women and youths aged between 18 and 35 years. Beneficiaries will be identified from three districts – Dhaka, Chattogram and Cumilla having particular concentrations of returnee population focusing on localities heavily affected by the pandemic.
