The school dropout rate in Bangladesh is estimated to be about 40% at the secondary level. The majority of the dropouts is most likely to remain unemployed or, if employed, engaged in low paying and hazardous work in the informal sector. With the aim of producing a well-trained and empowered youth, BRAC initiated the “Skills Training for Advancing Resources (STAR)” program in 2012. The program provides training in various informal trades to disadvantaged school dropout adolescents aged between 14-18 years. We estimated the effects of this program on employment, earning levels, financial assets, empowerment, and household level welfare. The results show that the intervention succeeded in increasing labour market participation and earnings of the adolescents. Increased earnings of the adolescents also translated into household welfare. Evidence also shows the positive effects of the program on enhancing empowerment, improving self-confidence, and preventing substance abuse. It also appears to have improved work environment and job satisfaction among school dropouts.
Researchers: Rehnuma Rahman; Zion Rabbi Samadder; Atiya Rahman
Partners: BRAC
Timeline: 2014-2016
Status: Completed
Contact: Atiya Rahman; atiya.rahman@bracu.ac.bd
Publication
Bangladesh is on its way to reaching the middle-income country category by 2021, however; we are still left behind in terms of quality of human capital. One of the significant indicators is the alarming school dropout rate in our country—21% at the primary level and 40% at the secondary level. Unfortunately, the dropouts end up being unemployed or getting involved in low paying and hazardous informal work because of a low level of education and skills. Workers involved in the informal sector are the most vulnerable portion of the workforce where the majority are compelled to continue working in absence of proper contracts, fixed working hour, fixed-wage rates, compensation for work-related injuries and legal protection, etc. The majority of informal sector workers learn specific trades through apprenticeships. However, most apprenticeship arrangements are unpaid and the apprentices need to work fulltime with little or no employment benefit. Furthermore, in such an arrangement, the apprentices neither get the opportunity to enhance their understanding of the trade further through classroom (theoretical) training nor any type of certification of the acquired skill. In this context, a holistic apprenticeship is crucial.
Intervention
With the aim of producing a well-trained and empowered youths, BRAC initiated the Skills Training for Advancing Resources (STAR) program in 2012. The program provides training in various informal trades to disadvantaged school dropout adolescents aged between 14-18 years in urban areas. The STAR program is mainly designed to cater to the needs of two separate target groups: trainee and trainer groups. The first group includes 14-18 years old school dropout adolescents (studied up-to grade 8 or less) from economically vulnerable households with per capita monthly income of not more than BDT 3,000. The trainer group includes entrepreneurs or craftsman involved in the local informal sector, playing the role of trainer/Master Crafts Person (MCP). In the model, each trainee is placed under MCP for hands-on training for a period of six months.
Training under each trade has its own Competency-based Skills Log Book that acts as a documentation of the competencies achieved by the trainee during the six months training period. Additionally, classroom-based theoretical training on each trade and generic soft skills training on various issues (i.e. financial literacy, market assessment, and basic communicative English) are provided once a week. More importantly, once the training is completed, the program tries to link the participants with potential employers. After the training period, the program staff assisted the participants to avail decent employment opportunities through proper information and guidance.
Objectives
The objective of this study was to assess the effects of a holistic apprenticeship on the economic and social lives of disadvantaged youths in Bangladesh.
This study is relevant to SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), particularly to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
Methodology
To estimate the impact of the program, we conducted a baseline survey in 2014. The survey covered, randomly selected 530 program participant adolescents (those supported in 2014) from 30 BRAC branch offices operating in 14 districts of Bangladesh. The sample was taken proportionately from each of the 30 branches. To compare the insights obtained from this group, an equal number of non-participant adolescents were surveyed from the same branch offices. The non-participants were those adolescents that were primarily selected by BRAC as potential program participants but finally found to be ineligible. The baseline survey covered a total of 517 non-participants adolescents.
A follow-up quantitative survey was conducted in 2015. Additionally, for capturing the stories behind the success and failure of the trainees, some qualitative case studies were conducted. Initially, using quantitative data, we identified success and failed cases based on participants’ post-training employment status and earnings. The qualitative study covered 11 success (7 boys and 4 girls) and 8 failure cases (3 boys and 5 girls).
Findings and Recommendations
At first glance, the findings show that the intervention succeeds in its aim to increase the labour market participation of the adolescents. The magnitude of the effect on employment is highly significant. Results also show that the intervention increases the time devoted to earning activities (by four hours per day) and earnings. Furthermore, the increased earnings of the adolescents as a result of the program participation translate into household welfare (food expenditures and durable asset holdings). We also found the program’s positive effects on empowerment and self-confidence. Moreover, the intervention increases workplace environment and job satisfaction. It was found that the benefit of the investment in the program is very high, with a cost-benefit ratio (CBR) of around 3.00. This implies that one dollar invested in this type of training could yield three dollars.
It appeared that the intervention is less effective for relatively younger participants, such as those 14 years of age. One of the reasons behind this could be that young adolescents face difficulty to learn trades that are technical in nature, such as mobile servicing, fridge repairing, etc. The program, therefore, could revise its targeting criteria. Moreover, trades like refrigerator and mobile servicing showed higher return over others. Therefore, based on the availability of MCPs, priority can be given to such trades. The STAR program played a significant role in the lives of adolescents by improving their knowledge and increasing their confidence and decision-making power. However, it has also unveiled some of the struggles faced by the participants while pursuing livelihood opportunities in the post-training phase (e.g. absent of proper post-training follow-up, delay on certificate delivery, etc.). Thus, we recommend making the process of delivering certificates faster and emphasizing on post-training follow-ups.
