The World Bank on Friday approved 600 million US Dollars for two projects in Bangladesh to help over 1.75 million poor and vulnerable people in the country.<br />'' <br />''The Acting World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan Dandan Chen said that in Bangladesh COVID-19 has affected the livelihoods of thousands of people particularly female workers, youth and returnee migrants.<br />'' <br />''The projects will help empower and mobilize rural poor people, prepare them for the future job market and support entrepreneurial opportunities.<br />'' <br />''The 300 million-Dollar Accelerating and Strengthening Skills for Economic Transformation (ASSET) Project will equip more than one million youth and workers with skills needed for the future of work. The project will also support industries to retrain their workers during and after the pandemic and thus accelerate recovery.<br />'' <br />''The World Bank Team Leader for the project Md. Mokhlesur Rahman said that the project will help modernize and build resilience of the technical vocational education and training sector of Bangladesh.<br />'' <br />''The 300 million-Dollar Resilience, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood Improvement (RELI) Project will help improve the livelihoods of about 7,50,000 poor and vulnerable rural people across 3,200 villages in 20 districts.<br />'' <br />''The project will also provide immediate and tailored livelihood support to rural people for responding to urgent needs such as the COVID-19 pandemic.<br />'' <br />''<span style="color: #222222;">Women will constitute over 90 per cent of the project beneficiaries. The project will help organize village groups, build their capacity and finance community plans for savings and micro-loans, as well as climate-resilient infrastructure.</span><br />