Bangladesh Improving membership management

The DECP undertook a two day mission to the Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF) in Dhaka to discuss the proposal for a membership survey. The BEF is looking to increase its current membership in order to enhance its representation and services and sees the survey as a way of understanding the needs of its membership and potential membership. The DECP has agreed to provide financial and technical support for the BEF to undertake the survey and to develop a membership strategy.

 During the course of the meeting with the BEF the issue of social dialogue was discussed and the DECP learnt that some 10,000 trade unions exist in Bangladesh and are mainly based at enterprise level. The coordination of dialogue would therefore be difficult.

 The DECP raised the idea of running a workshop on how social media could be an effective tool for communication with members. This was well received and the BEF asked to be included in further developments.

 The DECP took the opportunity to meet with representatives from the Netherlands embassy in Dhaka in order to brief them on the work being undertaken with the BEF.