Winrock’s Ashshash and PRAN-RFL sign MoU

Winrock International’s ‘Ashshash’ project - mandated by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and PRAN-RFL group have formally signed a pivotal ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MoU) at the PRAN Centre at the capital, in order to provide support to the victims of human trafficking; through collaborations in providing job placements, entrepreneurial support, and additional relevant services.

Having started their journey in 1981 and currently, an industry-leading conglomerate of the country, PRAN-RFL requires increasingly skilled workforces and distributors to maintain efficiency and productivity, and the ‘Ashshash’ project will herein facilitate this steady demand and ensure the constructive livelihood of the project’s beneficiaries; who will widen the coverage and geographical footprints of company’s products. Under this agreement and in addition to the objective of employing the project’s beneficiaries as ‘distributors’ or ‘sellers’, PRAN-RFL will also assist with capital investments and facilitate the capacity development of micro-entrepreneurs in the rural locales of ‘Ashshash’s’ beneficiaries. 

Dipta Rakshit, Team Leader, ‘Ashshash’ Project and Uzma Chowdhury CPA, Director-Finance of PRAN-RFL Group, signed the MOU on behalf of the respective organizations on Tuesday, May 11. On this trailblazing alliance, Uzma Chowdhury, Director-Finance of PRAN-RFL Group at PRAN-RFL, observed that ‘PRAN-RFL’s core objectives to improve the livelihood of the destitute demographic and generate employment through profitable enterprises, align immaculately with the ‘Ashshash’ project’s vision to restore dignity, ensure well-being, and enable self-sufficiency for the men and women who have escaped the horrors of human trafficking’. 

Head of Corporate Affairs (Brand) Nurul Afser, Head of HR Ranjan Dey, Manager Administration Mohammad Asaduzzaman from the Pran-RFL Group, and the Private Sector Engagement Manager Md Ashraful Islam, Training and Employment Manager Omar Faruk, Communications Officer Masnoon Md. Fairuz Haque from the ‘Ashshash’ project, among others, were present at the program.

The ‘Ashshash’ project aims to ensure that the survivors of human trafficking attain mental-health rehabilitation via counselling, develop their skillset and explore entrepreneurial opportunities via specialized training modules, and are supported with financial, medical, and legal aid.