Govt create women entrepreneurs over 28,000 in next 5yrs

FT ONLINE

Over 28,000 new women entrepreneurs will be created across the country in the next five years so they can find their way of self-employment, according to an official document. 

The document on the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 10 Special Initiatives also mentioned that a plan has been taken to provide training to over 56,100 women by June 2020 for engaging them in various income-generating activities.

According to the document, the government is implementing the Urban based Marginal Women Development Project (second phase) to provide necessary trainings to 45,000 city-based poor, helpless and low-income women to improve their skill by the end of this current 2170-18 financial year.

The government is implementing a fiscal plan to create self-employment opportunity for over 53,000 disadvantageous women by the next June through a micro credit scheme.

Besides, the government in May last year approved a special project involving Taka 81.89 crore to provide necessary training to 10,500 women in order to make them capable of becoming entrepreneurs in the country's thriving ICT sector. Being implemented by the ICT division, the 'She Power Project' is designed to create the women entrepreneurs at 21 upazillas across the country by November this year. 

Apart from empowering women for self-employment, the government has targeted increasing the share of female officers in the public sector to 25 percent by 2020 and motivating the rural women to participate in local and national elections by creating leadership among them.

The official document also highlighted some of the major progress that the country achieved in empowering women in the recent years. These include establishing various organisations to expedite women empowerment, enacting anti-repression law for protecting women and setting up over 13,000 rural maternity healthcare centres all over the country.

As many as 40 ministries have also been brought under gender sensitive budgeting in order to ensure women participation in government activities. 

Educated but unemployed 13,432 women have been trained under district based woman computer training project. 

With a view to creating job and increasing income through skill development 19 lakh women have so far been trained under various programmes.