Notes from the third meeting of the PASCAL Learning Cities Networks “Reimagining Inclusive Economic Futures” (RIEF) on 6 Jan 2021

The first presentation was by Nishat Tasnim Maria, and was a combined presentation about two major cities in Bangladesh- Dhaka (the capital) and Khulna [presentation appears below].

Some points of note:

Dhaka: 25% of people are in informal employment and 27% are unemployed. 34% are living below the poverty line.

Khulna: 20% are in informal employment and 9% are unemployed. 20% of people are living in slums and are below the poverty line, with 40% of people considered poor.

The ambition of Khulna is to develop lifelong learning for all. Both cities are part of the PASCAL-led Sustainable Healthy Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods Project (SHLC), funded by the UK Global Challenges Research Fund. They have been surveying neighbourhoods and have identified that there are in total 11 types of neighbourhoods in Dhaka and 9 types in Khulna.

The cities are also connected through UNESCO IEEP – legislative framework to support the development of Learning Cities.

Regarding formal education, NGOs are active in the slum neighbourhoods and provide a multi-layer education, with a small amount of elementary free education and other education being private. It is hard to keep children in elementary education because their parents need them to work to add to family income.

A discussion followed about access to learning in Bangladesh, as it is apparent that there is a difference in class access to learning.

Shilpi pointed out the diversity of the cities they are working with and how they have different economic challenges. Khulna is a post –industrial town without a stable economic base. There are second generation unemployed people who do not have an appropriate skills base for new employment opportunities, there is a real skills gap. There are LLL opportunities through NGOs offering training and financial support, but there is a need to explore the landscape and the existing ecosystem and identify the gaps.

Dhaka is a dynamic city with a high growth rate and a stronger economy. However, it also has a high sprawl rate and many people attracted to the city are working in an informal economy in production roles. Most of these roles are not sustainable and many have lost their jobs- as a result there is outward migration with people moving back to their villages, where the skills they have learned in the city are of no value. There are also climate migrants in the cities without tangible assets.

The challenges faced by Khulna because of a ‘brain drain- where more highly skilled people find better employment in Dhaka- was also discussed. As a result, there are posts not being filled, because people with the right skills do not want to stay in Khulna.

Annie Tubadji represents Swansea University in the network. In her presentation (attached below), she explained that poverty has many different faces and occurs in different ways, so it is important to try to distinguish between these and capture assets.

She identified that people can have poverty in terms of culture and illustrated this with an example from Swansea, where the Taliesin Theatre provides cultural events streamed from London and other world-wide sources. The mission is to enlighten, within respect for different identities. Referring to Bourdieu, she discussed cultural capital and why this should not be neglected in an all-round education. It has been found that those with less cultural capital gain lower marks in formal education systems. Her presentation reminded us of the Banner for Peace movement which was founded on the development of cultural capital.

All exclusion has been exacerbated due to Covid -19 and this includes access to culture. There is, in the UK, a levelling up agenda, and this should include access to cultural events and facilities. We need to invest time and budget to deal with these issues. Some sectors of society are being left aside and we need to share knowledge about this and find ways to tackle the issues.

In conclusion, she explained that there are different issues of exclusion in a Learning City- economic, digital and cultural- - all have been exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic and we need to address them together in a holistic manner.