Description
The project will continue to support the growing leather sector of Bangladesh, having at its core the Bangladesh Leather Service Centre established during Phase I of the project. The BLSC Follow-up project will aim at: a) Keeping the momentum reached during Phase I and maintaining the Centre’s supply capacity of specific priority services, b) Developing successful models of intervention with a selected group of companies to pave the way for their adaptation and replicability to the whole sector, c) Creating the conditions for the industry to progressively acquire full ownership of the Centre and guide its further development, d) Enabling the project counterpart, the Leather Sector Business Promotion Council/Ministry of Commerce, to mobilize cooperation alliances with local and international partners, so as to expand the outreach of services and activities. With respect to the latter, the project will facilitate the preparation and the implementation of a Round Table of Cooperation Partners, where the need for technical assistance will be mapped out by the industry and discussed with stakeholders so as to establish an integrated approach leading to complementary and coordinated programmes. Such synergy will foster the development of the leather sector, identified by several donors as a priority for private sector development, within a holistic approach. On the technical side the project will focus on a) expanding the services for quality assurance, building on the international accreditation obtained during Phase I, and b) consolidating the achievements of the pilot phase for enabling access to credit by small and micro enterprises through a dedicated credit line scheme for the leather sector made available by commercial banks. Meanwhile the Centre will continue to provide services for product design and development as well as technical training based on the capacities developed during Phase I. Contribute to sustainable expor