We are now inviting JETI textile members to nominate factories in Bangladesh to our new and unique programme, Green Social Dialogue. We are welcoming 10 garment factories to take part in the initial needs assessment for the programme, of which 5 will be selected for full programme implementation.
Why Green Social Dialogue?
Due to its geographical location and socio-economic characteristics, Bangladesh is among the countries most vulnerable to climate changes. An estimated 15 million people will be internally displaced because of rising sea levels by 2050, increasing the pressure on the larger cities and the garment industry. Simultaneously, the government is rolling out ambitious plans for automation of the garment industry and the promotion of green factories. This is also changing the demography of the industry and impacting the traditional roles of garment workers.
The Green Social Dialogue Programme aims to make garment workers and civil society representatives sensitized to engage on the impacts of climate change on garment workers. The objectives are to make workers and management able to identify climate related issues within the workplace and raise these through social dialogue. The programme will be raising awareness to build the capacity of factory staff to collectively contribute to the reduction of the impact of climate change.
Photo: Marthe Kielland Røssak.
How to get involved?
JETI member brands are invited to nominate garment factories in their supply chain to take part of the initial needs assessment for the programme. We will reserve places on a first come first serve basis, as long as the factory fulfil our selection criteria. The deadline for nominations is 30 September 2022. JETI brands are also welcome to provide input to the design of the needs assessment and programme development.
The needs assessment will establish the current knowledge base among factory workers and management, and map the knowledge gaps and training needs. We will prepare a full report from the needs assessment which will be shared with nominating brands. Once the needs assessment has been carried out among the 10 factories, 5 of the factories will be selected for the full roll-out of the programme.
Factory selection criteria
The nominated factory must have participated in the JETI social dialogue programme previously, and completed all planned interventions under the programme. The factory location should be in Dhaka, Ashulia, Savar, Narayanganj or Gazipur. The factory should have an active worker representation committee (PC or TU) and the number of workers should be around 2000. The factory management must be interested in the programme and willing to provide the necessary support and time to carry out the needs assessment and the potential roll-out of the full programme. They should also have an interest in contributing to the mitigation and reduction of the impacts of climate change.
Read more about the Green Social Dialogue programme and how to participate here.
You can read more about our Norad funded programme in Bangladesh here.
For more information or interest in nominating factories, please contact project manager at Ethical Trade Norway on marthe@etiskhandel.no or the Country Manager of ETI Bangladesh on abilamin@etibd.org.
