Dhaka: As part of a pilot initiative, the Youth Employment through Skills (YES) programme on Sunday launched a fundraising campaign aiming to raise US$ 40,000 to teach young Bangladeshis.

Through the programme, the young Bangladeshis will learn the technical coding, communication and freelancing skills they need to start earning a living in the international digital freelance IT marketplace.  

The end goal for the YES programme will be to train 100,000 Bangladeshi youths over the next three years, helping each of them start earning an income of up to US$ 300 a month.

UNDP’s National Goodwill Ambassador for Youth, the legendary Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Captain of the Bangladesh cricket team, will be directly involved in the campaign.  

Anyone who supports the campaign will be eligible for some amazing gifts, including Twitter shout-outs and autographed cricket balls and bats from Mashrafe himself.

All the money raised through the campaign will go towards covering the costs of equipping the mobile classroom units with desks, chairs, computers and Internet access, as well as funding the Learn and Earn programme.  

The venture is actually collaboration between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangladesh and CodersTrust with sponsorship from Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh and Better Shelter.

UNDP Bangladesh acting Country Director Nick Beresford said the Youth Employment through Skills Programme will help the country’s smart and talented young people get a good start in the vibrant global digital economy.  

The campaign will be supported by private sector as well. Standard Chartered Bank has already donated US$ 5,000.  

‘We’re expecting many other private enterprises and individuals to join our efforts to support young people and help them make a good start in earning salaries,’ said Addesse Haile, UNDP campaign coordinator.

The need for YES programme comes at a critical time as approximately 41 percent of Bangladeshi youth are not in education, employment, or in training.  

In the first phase of the programme, UNDP and Coders Trust are launching a mobile classroom pilot for 360 students in Narail.  

Better Shelter, a social enterprise which develops and provides temporary buildings to house people displaced by armed conflicts and natural disasters, has donated two of its modular shelters to UNDP to be used as mobile classrooms during the initial phase (value of USD 4,750). Better Shelter will also provide personnel to erect the structures.

‘We’re very excited to be working with UNDP and Coders Trust to provide a more hopeful future for Bangladeshi students,’ said Johan Karlsson, Interim Managing Director of Better Shelter.

The first group of students of the YES programme will begin training in early 2017, with a plan to generate publicity and additional funding in order to launch another 180 mobile classrooms incrementally over a period of three years.