Bangladesh Employers’ Federation (BEF), in collaboration with the ILO, Country Office for Bangladesh and Chittagong Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CWCCI), Chattogram, organized a day-long “Awareness Raising Session on Employment Formalization (Informal Enterprises)” on 4th March 2026 at Conference Hall, CWCCI, Agrabad, Chattogram. The purpose of the session was to engage informal and semi-formal enterprises to understand how enterprise currently manage workers and are not interested or hesitant to formalize employment practices.
The program was facilitated by Mr. Joha Rahman, Head of Training, BEF who outlined the training objectives and expected outcomes, utilizing participatory methods to engage attendees in an interactive learning experience.
The inaugural session was chaired by Mr. Ruman Ishtiak, Project Officer, ILO Dhaka Office, who welcomed participants and opened the discussion with insights from the private sector on why formalization matters. He highlighted the key motivators and enabling factors that could encourage enterprises to formalize employment (e.g., buyer requirements, access to finance, simplified tools, incentives) and prioritized set of challenges and solutions, including what policy, technical, or institutional support is needed.
A total of 21 participants (Male-09, Female-12) from priority industry sectors availed of this unique learning opportunity. The session was designed for Leather, Agro-processing, RMG, Pharmaceuticals, construction, medical and Aquaculture/Shrimp sectors.
