Bangladesh Twenty20 and ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, also UNDP’s national goodwill ambassador for youth, has joined a fundraising campaign to create job opportunities for young people.
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.
Anyone who will support the campaign will be eligible for some gifts, including Twitter shout-outs and autographed cricket balls and bats from Mashrafe.
The end goal for the YES programme will 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.
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.
The campaign will be supported by private sector as well. Standard Chartered Bank has already donated US$ 5,000.