Consultation on policy advocacy for increasing revenue budget for TTCs, DEMOs
WARBE Development Foundation, in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO) organised a policy advocacy event focused on increasing the revenue budget for TTCs and DEMOs to enhance skill development, training quality, and employment facilitation for migrant workers across the country which has supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh.
The consultation was held at the Daily Star Centre, bringing together government officials, development partners, members of Trade Union-CSO Action Alliance (TUCSAA), migration expert, CSOs, media and migrant workers, said a press release of the WARBE Development Foundation on Wednesday.
The event began with an introduction and objective-setting speech from Jasiya Khatoon, director of WARBE Development Foundation. She underscored the importance of revenue budgets for enabling TTCs and DEMOs to work more efficiently.
In his welcome remarks, Syed Saiful Haque, chairman of WARBE Development Foundation, emphasised the roles of the ministry, TTCs, and DEMOs and their connection to national-level training, service delivery, and advocacy.
Abu Saleh Md. Shamim Alam Shibly, senior research associate at the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), delivered the keynote presentation.
He provided a detailed explanation of how revenue budget allocations for TTCs and DEMOs have remained stiff due to limited resources, institutional constraints, and service-delivery challenges.
He also highlighted gaps in policy implementation, clarified distinctions between BMET, TTCs, and DEMOs in terms of frameworks and work plans, and recommended curriculum reforms aligned with both national and international job markets.
An open-floor discussion followed, allowing participants to reflect on budget constraints, training needs, and coordination issues affecting TTCs and DEMOs.
Stakeholders stressed that increased budget allocation is essential to improving skill development, counselling, and reintegration support for migrant workers.
A female migrant returnee shared how lack of experience and corruption in certification and clearance procedures affect their migration journey.
A reflection panel included contributions from Sumaiya Islam, executive director of BNSK, who pointed to the need for labour-market analysis prior to training and highlighted issues such as employer responsibility, public–private partnership, market-specific manpower, and job creation for skilled workers within the country.
Naimul Ahsan Jewel, convening committee member of TUCSAA, noted gaps in policy implementation and stressed the importance of trade unions in voicing migrants’ needs.
Rahnuma Salam Khan, national project manager ILO, emphasised the need to “filter and design training programs according to destination countries and the specific job categories demanded there.”
She noted that although a significant portion of Bangladeshi migrants work in the construction sector, “TTCs currently do not provide construction-related training, which creates a major skills gap.”
She further recommended establishing an operational taskforce for TTCs to regularly evaluate institutional performance, strengthen monitoring, and ensure that training outcomes genuinely match the needs of overseas job markets.
Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman from BAIRA, stated that 4.2million people have migrated for work in the past four years and argued that allocations should be performance-based, with stronger government coordination linking TTCs, DEMOs, and workers.
Kazi Abul Kalam, former joint secretary of MoEWOE, called for the establishment of a migration institute dedicated to research and market analysis and emphasised the need to eliminate intermediaries.
Najiba Nourin from BRAC highlighted the importance of financial literacy, digital content, follow-up mechanisms, and career counselling during both pre-decision and training phases.
Premangshu Shekhar Sarkar from Helvetas raised concerns about unclear responsibilities between DEMOs and TTCs and noted resource wastage within TTCs.
The guest of honour, Zia Hassan, policy adviser at MoEWOE, described the consultation as timely and important for future planning and resource allocation.
He pointed to operational limitations and lack of dynamism within governing bodies as major barriers and stressed the importance of language training and cultural skills for destination countries.
The event concluded with a shared commitment to translate the discussions into actionable recommendations and continue collective advocacy until they are realised.