Baseline Report: Expanding the Improvement of Employability Skills and Resilience for Youth in Chattogram (Bangladesh, 2025)

Key barriers include lack of experience, limited job opportunities, and restricted access to capital, with women facing additional mobility and safety constraints. Despite strong family influence, parental attitudes are increasingly supportive of skills development and women’s economic participation. Service provision is varied but uneven, and coordination among government, NGOs, and private sector actors remains fragmented.

The study calls for stronger, city‑level coordination; gender‑ and disability‑inclusive training pathways; simpler access to services; improved public‑private job placement mechanisms; and expanded digital, entrepreneurial, and green‑skills opportunities. These findings establish a critical baseline for tracking project progress over the next three years.