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| Creating Opportunities for Bangladesh — The JOBS Project |
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www.jobsproject.org Since 1997, IRIS's Job Opportunities and Business Support (JOBS) project has worked closely with USAID's Bangladesh Mission to expand markets, increase exports, and ensure the sustainability of Bangladesh’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
JOBS is an integrated private sector development program designed to create export earnings and sustainable employment. As of 2000, IRIS has- Developed over 10 business sectors
- Formed over 80 clusters with backward support linkages to the larger export companies
- Documented $70 million in assisted-client export sales
- Supported Bangladeshi enterprises, whose growth has created 5,000 new jobs, with 90% of the positions going to women
JOBS presently operates in a range of sectors:- footwear
- handmade paper
- home textiles
- leather goods
- light electrical equipment
- personal protective equipment
- information technology
Policy — Improving the Environment
MSME development depends on an enabling environment that encourages competitiveness, eases access to financial and non-financial services, allows for expanding markets for products and services, and promotes the use of technology and information. JOBS’s efforts in the policy arena have promoted passage of the Information and Technology Act and facilitated access to credit for MSMEs.
JOBS also provides direct technical assistance to MSMEs in many areas, including: - Improving business management and marketing skills through training
- Improving production and processing technologies or introducing new technologies
- Preparing and presenting business and marketing plans and loan applications
- Assisting export efforts through trade fairs and other means of market penetration
- Establishing backward and forward market linkages
- Incorporating ICT (E-governance, E-policy, E-commerce, and E-HRD)
Taking on the IT Sector
JOBS has become USAID’s flagship project working in the ICT sector. It is one of the first donor-funded projects to actively engage in the development of e-Commerce and ICT in Bangladesh. JOBS draws on its local experience, as well as IRIS’s global expertise to promote an enabling environment that will facilitate the use of e-Commerce and ICT as tools to develop the nation’s small and medium-sized businesses.
JOBS’ ICT program was formed in late 2000, and quickly recognized that the biggest obstacle to the successful adoption of e-Commerce in Bangladesh is the legal and regulatory environment. Although Bangladeshi businesses are eager to embrace ICTs, the government has been slow to implement changes that would foster ICT-led growth. The nation’s telecommunication infrastructure and Internet connectivity is insufficient:- Internet access is expensive
- Sufficient human capacity must be developed in order to support a growing ICT sector. To this end, JOBS acts as the country coordinator for the Cisco Networking Academy Program, supporting both the CCNA Networking curriculum and the HP IT Essentials curriculum. Both curricula prepare students, through online learning sessions led by trained instructors and hands-on lab exercises, for internationally accredited certifications and active participation in the global economy.
- Some entrepreneurs, and the business culture itself, need to become more open to change
JOBS is addressing these issues, as well as promoting the utilization of ICT to foster transparency and democracy in government operations. Despite the constraints Bangladesh faces in adopting e-Commerce and ICT, JOBS has been able to provide state-of-the-art practical support in the areas of policy, trade, human resource development, and governance. |
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| Donor: U.S. Agency for International Development |
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| Dates: March 1997 - September 2005 |
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| Last updated on: 11/2/2006 |
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IRIS is developing the handmade paper sector. These workers in Mymensingh are producing dinstinctive papers for export to Germany.
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