More than 50% of the Bangladesh population of more than 158 million is under the age of 24. Youth is the hope of the Nation for the future. Young people are the most energetic and productive segment of the total population. A vast majority of this section unfortunately remains unreached.

In Bangladesh, women are confined to the domestic domain, that includes homestead unpaid jobs. Women’s involvement is mainly in the non-productive and non-monetized sector while men’s involvement is in the formal, productive and monetized sector. Girls and young women typically earn less and work in more unstable jobs and have neither access to resources nor market driven skills, a situation that prevents them to develop entrepreneurial skills or to have a decent job.

Key issues like violence, sexual harassment, discrimination, early marriage, malnutrition, health crises or drop out from education add to the unequal access to economic structures. Women hardly have a voice in the decision-making process. Parents often are not willing to let girls travel long distances to go to school and to work, fearing for them being harmed. Lack of employment opportunities, market driven education and access to resources prevent young women from participating in the economic development process and to contribute to the alleviation of poverty. Huge potentialities are being neglected in this regard.

This situation is even worse in the Cox’s Bazar district, located in the very South-East part of Bangladesh. To combat the trend of structural discrimination, we strive to increase the knowledge, skills, confidence and financial assets of youth, especially of girls and young women, by empowering them through developing their capacities and increase their access to economic activities, as a substantial contribution to poverty reduction.

Poverty is not just a deficiency of financial assets but also of knowledge, skills and confidence. HOPE´87 therefore aims to empower the youth, especially girls and young women, by developing their capacities and increasing their access to economic activities through the YES Centre project. HOPE´87, in cooperation with its local partner YPSA, established a multipurpose training centre at the Cox Bazar and a small satellite training venue in Dhaka to offer courses ranging from ICT and English classes to hotel management and textile industry-related trainings. Students may also enrol in office management and secretarial training, basic accountancy and bookkeeping, and a life skills education course with a focus on human rights and gender equality. Disaster risk reduction (DRR) is a transversal topic strengthening the resilience of all course participants.

Four hundred youth, of which 60% were young women, benefitted from this project. The YES Centre thus helped the upcoming generation integrate into society as responsible citizens, knowing their rights and duties. This initiative of HOPE´87 to assist the youth in Bangladesh in finding decent work and lasting employment was generously supported by the YOU Foundation – Education for Children in Need.