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Promoting Gender Responsive Enterprise and Skills Development Systems (ProGRESS): Feminizing Bangladesh’s Skills and Enterprise Systems and Labour Market - Midterm evaluation

eval_number:

3337

eval_url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/eval/3337

location:

country:

Bangladesh

region:

Asia and the Pacific

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eval_title:

Promoting Gender Responsive Enterprise and Skills Development Systems (ProGRESS): Feminizing Bangladesh’s Skills and Enterprise Systems and Labour Market - Midterm evaluation

recommendations:

date:

2026-05-24 00:00:00.0

themes:

theme:

Organizational issues

category:

Planning and programme design

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action_plan:

The Project commits to the following: 1. Strategic Geographic Realignment The ProGRESS project will refine its geographic footprint to five priority districts: the three Hill Tracts districts (Bandarban, Rangamati, and Khagrachhari), Khulna, and Chattogram. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT): As home to the highest concentration of Bangladesh’s most vulnerable ethnic communities, focus here will be deepened. ProGRESS will forge strategic alliances with UNDP, BRAC, and Hill District Councils—all supported by Canadian funding—to drive sustainable impact. This renewed focus is essential to scaling milestones in enterprise development through community-based tourism, cashew nut value chains, and agro-processing. Khulna: Prioritized due to extreme economic and climate vulnerability (e.g., rising salinity and livelihood displacement). ProGRESS will build synergies with existing ILO initiatives in the shrimp and aquaculture supply chains, ensuring better value for money and targeted support for frozen food sector workers. Chattogram: Functioning as Bangladesh’s secondary employment hub, Chattogram will serve as the primary site for private sector engagement. Pilot initiatives here—including industrial attachments, Skills Matching System (SMS), and employment support services—are designed for eventual nationwide replication by the government. 2. Consolidation of Interventions in Secondary Districts Interventions in the remaining five districts will be phased down. Resources will shift toward: Post-training support for previous skills training graduates. Consolidating sustainability mechanisms for community-based tourism in Jaflong and the Shared Service Facility for women in ethnic tea garden communities. 3. Thematic Priorities and Policy Alignment Thematic focus will shift toward scaling work-based learning and institutionalizing digital and gender-responsive systems. These priorities align with the new government’s 180-agenda with job creation at its core; and with the 5-year TVET Implementation Plan, and National Skills Development Policy: Work-Based Learning: Expanding apprenticeship, industrial attachment, and community-based tourism models. Systemic Tools: Rolling out the Gender and Skills Task Force, Skills Matching Systems, Employment Support Services, and the Graduate Tracking and Management System. 4. Capacity Building and Private Sector Integration ProGRESS will evolve into a systems integrator and innovation catalyst by: • Institutional Strengthening: Building partner capacity using proven ILO tools and methodologies to encourage systemic change in job creation. Rolling out of Business Development Service portal, in partnership with SME Foundation. • Co-investment: Enhancing private sector engagement and co-investment models to ensure that skills training remains market-relevant, scalable, and sustainable for women and vulnerable groups.

management_response:

Completed

progress:

Partially achieved

admin_units:

CO-Dhaka

title:

Strengthen project impact by revisiting geographic and thematic scope through strategic prioritization, paying particular attention to identifying and promoting innovative solutions that build on ILO’s comparative advantages and demonstrably work for women and other vulnerable populations.Given the implementation delays (in the past and expected with the upcoming elections) and the evaluation’s conclusion that the project has suffered from dilution, the evaluation recommends project management to identify key thematic areas for prioritisation during the second half of the project. A more deliberate refocusing could help safeguard project achievements to date while positioning the initiative to deliver more sustainable and impactful outcomes over the longer term. The project should also reassess and refine its geographic scope. At present, resources are spread too thinly across multiple locations, which dilutes efforts, limits opportunities for innovation, and reduces the project’s capacity to generate tangible, high-quality results. By concentrating activities within a smaller and more clearly defined geographic focus, the project would be better positioned to engage more deeply with local stakeholders and partners, adapt interventions to specific contexts, and demonstrate measurable change more effectively. A more focused geographic approach would also enhance efficiency by reducing logistical complexity and helping to improve coordination among partners and constituents, strengthening sustainability. Concentration of efforts would further strengthen visibility, as results would be more evident and easier to communicate to the government, social partners, and development partners. Ultimately, a strategic narrowing of geographic scope would not only maximize the value added by current resources but also create a stronger foundation for sustainability and long-term impact. Lastly, it may be worthwhile to assess whether some implementing partners require an extension of timelines to complete their deliverables to the expected level of quality. Granting such flexibility could prevent rushed outputs, allow for deeper engagement, and ensure that the products developed meet both technical standards and stakeholder needs.

project_symbols:

BGD/20/05/CAN

url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/recommendations/2370884

information_source:

Country Office

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