ILO supports first-ever competency-based skills development for Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

COX’S BAZAR (ILO News) - The International Labour Organisation (ILO), together with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), have created and operationalized the first-ever competency-based skills development framework for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to equip them with employability skills that would enable them to get decent work should they return to Myanmar, or resettle in other countries. 

Competency-based training (CBT) is a structured training and assessment system that allows individuals to acquire skills and knowledge required to effectively perform specified work activities to expected industry standards. It is demand-driven, flexibly delivered through modules to ensure individuals gain mastery of real-life industry skills for successful performance in the labour market.

According to the UNHCR, the Rohingyas are the world’s largest stateless people, which had made it difficult for them to receive any formal CBT based on the any national framework. 

However, in August 2022, Bangladesh endorsed the Government of Bangladesh – United Nations Framework on Skills Development for Rohingya refugees and host communities, providing a pathway for equipping the refugees with skills vital for employment or business set-up. 

With support from the Canadian-funded ILO ISEC project, an assessment of the skills needs of Rohingya refugee youth aged between 18 and 24 years in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char was conducted by UNHCR in 2022 to gauge their education and training levels, their employability skills as well as their training needs for productive engagement in the camps. 

This informed the development of an appropriate competency-based training framework, which has enabled development partners to identify and develop courses that align with the Myanmar National Qualification Framework as well as the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework to enable labour mobility. 

Priority occupations 

This has in turn led to the development of standardized training packages for ten (10) occupations identified by the refugees as priorities, each with its own competency standards and course accreditation. 

“The competency-based training framework is pivotal for ensuring that the Rohingya refugees are no longer left behind by enabling them to effectively participate in labour markets where they may end up through repatriation or migration. Skills development is a critical pathway to social justice for the refugees,” said Tuomo Poutiainen, ILO Country Director for Bangladesh.

The ten CBT courses currently being offered to the refugees are sewing machine operation, plumbing, concreting, small engine mechanics, building electricians, crop production, community health workers, caregiving, Solar PV installation and maintenance, and baking.

The skills development is being done through a broad range of partners and stakeholders in Cox’s Bazar including the ILO project - Leaving No One Behind: Improving Skills and Economic Opportunities for the Women and Youth in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh (ISEC).

Through the competency-based training, more than 5,500 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char have successfully completed and graduated in the various occupations or trades enabling them to engage in a variety of productive work including volunteering in the camps, starting and running businesses such as tailoring, and food production, rendering them somewhat self-reliant.