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From Margin to Mainstream

A youth employment project in Bangladesh wins ILO good practice contest

A Bangladeshi youth employment project “From Margin to Mainstream” won one of the first prizes in a good practice contest organized by the ILO and featured on MTV. The project helps young people with disabilities step into the labour market and become agents of change.

News | 09 May 2014
GENEVA – In Bangladesh, in the area of Dhaka, Action on Disability and Development (ADD) has set up a programme that helps young people with disability get out of extreme poverty and start a new life as active citizens.

Based on young people’s needs, capacities and aspirations, “From Margin to Mainstream” provides them with a combination of vocational training and temporary wage subsidies, or entrepreneurship training and business start-up funding. It benefits unemployed and low-skilled youth with disabilities who live in households that earn less than the US equivalent of 50 dollars a month.

From Margin to Mainstream
 
Young people with disability face a double challenge. Not only are they hit hard by the employment crisis but they are often confronted with discrimination and structural barriers. When trapped in a vicious circle of marginalization, poverty and social exclusion, they can become financially dependent on their family.

This project, featured on MTV on 11 April, is one of the three winners – out of 103 participants – from the ILO’s Call for Good Practices for youth employment. Each proposed innovative solutions to help disadvantaged youth boost self-esteem, acquire employable skills and get a foothold in the labour market.