Bhairob, Bangladesh, has traditionally been a footwear producing area, and more than 7000 factories have been established here over the past few decades. Around 40 percent of these factories are micro-enterprises employing between three to ten workers.
Most factories use low-cost materials and manufacture the shoes by hand. This results in low-quality footwear which has a low market value. The whole process is labour intensive. Most of the micro-entrepreneurs have not had any formal training on shoemaking, and there is a lack of understanding of the shoe market value chain.
IFAD’s Promoting Agricultural Commercialization and Enterprises (PACE) project improves the livelihoods of moderate and extreme poor through a sustainable value chain approach. PACE is different from other projects in that it is not limited to on-farm activities but also targets off-farm interventions in rural areas.
Together with a local NGO called People’s Oriented Program Implementation (POPI), PACE supports entrepreneurs to increase efficiency and improve the work environment. POPI provides micro-entrepreneurs with latest tips and tricks of the shoe producing craft. With the training, beneficiaries are now able to produce shoes using machines and optimise their business processes. Factory owners have also improved safety and working conditions. As a result, the producers are now able to compete with local, national and international products.
Original source: IFAD
Published on 17 August 2018
