A weekly round up of articles about employment, the labour market, skills training and workforce development. This week’s round up is drawn from The Daily Star. Here is the news for the week ending 19th May 2016.

This week in the Bangladesh English Press…

…coverage on the plight of domestic workers. Training for individuals with physical disabilities takes the spotlight in labour and training talks. Increasing availability of electricity due to renewable energy, and organic farming practices help develop rural areas in long-lasting ways.

The lives of domestic workers

In December of last year, the new Domestic Help Protection and Welfare Policy was approved to make domestic work a recognised profession under the Labour Act, granting rights and services to domestic workers across the country. As this year’s May Day passed, the progress the policy has made seems slow, lacking much of the codified, legal framework needed to actually support domestic workers. Many domestic workers still feel like their work experiences, and their lives in general, have not been improved very much. They are often still treated very poorly, and wages and pay remains irregular.

Training for individuals with physical disabilities

Training for individuals with physical disabilities has become a top goal for manufacturers and employee organizations. At a roundtable discussion, different organizations such as the Centre for Disability in Development and Germany’s GIZ voiced ways to better integrate the large numbers of individuals with exceptionalities. According to the World Disability Report, 20 million people in Bangladesh live with some sort of exceptionality, revealing just what kind of scale these organizations are talking about. Furthermore, if these individuals cannot be integrated back into the economy, Bangladesh stands to lose 3 to 7 percent of its GDP per year, or around USD 1 billion.

Renewable energy brings renewable development

Cheap, renewable energy is bringing electricity to more remote rural areas, providing new opportunities. Since many of these rural locations live off the standard electrical grid, supplying these areas with electricity has become a challenge. Off grid renewable energy sources have provided a sustainable way to light up these remote areas. Solar power in particular offer a unique solution to the issue of land availability, as solar panels can be placed on rooftops, which are in no short supply. It also provides new opportunities, as jobs that previously required large amounts of physical manpower can be accomplished more easily with powered tools. Manpower can be used more efficiently, and organized better to accomplish greater tasks.

Organic crops bring greater returns

To match the growing demand for vegetables, farmers in Tangail have opted to grow their produce organically. Growing organic crops (crops that don’t use pesticides or other chemicals for growth) rather than using pesticides have allowed for more crops to be produced, since farmers are taking better care of the soil and more conscious of the health of the plants. Many are noting that this increase in vegetable crop production has also led to more sales, improving the livelihood of farmers in the region. Linkages between farmers and vendors have also developed, as local food vendors and restaurants are looking to add more local vegetables to their menus. The growth of this linkage can provide better opportunities for farmers and local businesses in the long-run.

And that’s the news for the week ending May 19th 2016.