Embark on a compelling journey with the story of a successful individual whose life was transformed through skill training. Witness the power of acquiring new skills and how it opens doors to employment opportunities. Explore the challenges this individual faced and their unwavering determination to overcome obstacles. Experience the transformative impact of skill training as it empowers them to secure a meaningful job and achieve personal and professional fulfillment. This inspiring tale highlights the importance of skill development and serves as a reminder of the boundless possibilities that arise when individuals are equipped with the right tools and opportunities.“When my father died, I was only 15 and witnessed a very critical situation in my family. My father was the only earning member to feed our five members family. His sudden death felt like we were in a deep sea. We were helpless and no one extended support to us through which we could overcome our immediate sufferings. Since I have no brothers, my mother had to take care of all of the family responsibilities.
She also went through with unbearable suffering to make us grow and be educated. She has gone through a very adverse situation and overcome all the challenges and I felt proud of my Mother”-Said Ayesha Siddiqa, 25 years of age, who is a participant in the Garments Research Project which was being funded by the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) & International Development Research Centre (IDRC). This was an Experimental intervention, carried out by Dr. Abu Shonchoy of New York University, Dr. Selim Raihan of Dhaka University & Dr. Tomoki Fujji of Singapore Management University. The intervention was aimed to explain the labor market dynamics and the associated growth and poverty-reduction linkages in Bangladesh.
Ayesha Siddiqa is the eldest child of her parents who lives with her family at Kisamot Bagchi village, a village in Gaibandha district. Her father died at the time of her SSC examination in the year of 2008. She witnessed herself in abject poverty since her father died. Her father left nothing but only 20 decimal cultivable lands. Then her mother started to cultivate that land by her initiative. Besides, she started also homestead gardening and poultry rearing. But the income coming from those initiatives was not enough to meet her family’s needs. Ayesha also started contributing financially as she started tuition in her village. Meanwhile, she passed both SSC and HSC examinations and got admission into a degree college. Her two younger sisters were also studying in school leading to a gradual rising in the family expenses. She was unable to progress her graduate studies into the final year due to a financial crisis. Desperately, she was looking for a job but wanted to continue her study also. She had a lack of proper job networks and referrals led to her being unemployed. Passionately, she was looking for something like skill training that could assist her to mitigate the unemployment problem, and all of a sudden she got a chance to be trained on sewing machine operation by Gana Unnayan Kendra (GUK) under the Garments Research Project. She was randomly selected for the 3rd treatment group; a group provided with training and a stipend to finance migration.
She came to Dhaka after the completion of 22 days of residential training and got a job as a helper for the sewing machine operator. After satisfactory performance during the probation period, she was promoted later to a sewing machine operator in the same factory. In the meantime, she moved to her village and completed her graduation. After staying a few months in the village, she migrated again to Dhaka and found a job in a foreign apparel factory named Kingston Limited. Since then, she has been working as a Quality Inspector and earning around BDT 14000 each month. She is also contributing to her family by remitting BDT 5000 each month. She has to spend a big portion of her salary on her expenses. Despite the reduction of a big portion of their salary, she has been making considerable savings from the beginning. She also contributed from her savings to her sister’s marriage, building a new house, and to purchase some furniture and home appliances. Her journey towards employment was not easy as the community people unwelcomed her work in a garment factory and criticized several times. But over the years, many of them wanted to use her as a referral to send their child to a garments factory.
“Being a woman, I am not unemployed and financial contribution to my family is a great achievement of my life. I am happy that my family has already come out of the suffering of poverty. I am also planning to get tied with a person who will allow me to continue the job even after getting married”.