Garment sector can create more jobs and improve working conditions partnering with the buyers, the UK development arm, DFID says.
Based on its experiences, it says working with the major buyers showed that better pay and working conditions can lead to better productivity.
The UK aid-funded Responsible and Accountable Garment Sector (RAGS) Challenge Fund has been working in Bangladesh in partnership with major UK buyers, such as Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Mothercare, and NGOs.
Daily efficiency and daily productivity have increased by 18.28 percent and 17.07 percent respectively of the factories that joined the project.
Average monthly take-home pay increased by an average of Tk 491 which is equivalent to an increase in annual pay of £3.4 million to all workers employed by participating factories.
Speaking at a function in Dhaka on Saturday where it was presented, DFID country representative Sarah Cooke said a dynamic private sector drove job creation.
“Our approach to promoting economic development includes encouraging more investment from overseas and working directly with businesses”.
She said the RMG sector has brought about a radical social change in Bangladesh by employing a large numbers of rural women.
She said she had visited and seen a number of garment factories last year and have learned at first-hand the wide range of factory conditions that exist here.
“While some factories are truly first-class, others are clearly sub-standard and pose real threats to the people who work in those premises.”
A specialist management training centre supported by Tesco in partnership with RAGS has achieved a balance between reducing working hours and increasing pay by encouraging companies to introduce a production bonus.
It is training mid-to-lower level factory management teams in world-leading efficiency and productivity techniques.
In turn this will provide a sustainable platform to help support the long-term competitiveness of Bangladesh as a sourcing destination.
Industry and development experts at the event also discussed the overall progress made by RAGS and how it complements Bangladesh’s national action plan, which UK aid is also supporting through £4.8m funding of an ILO project launched in October.
Over the past three years the RAGS Challenge Fund has acted as ‘a stimulant and catalyst’ for sustained improvements in working conditions of vulnerable workers in the readymade garment industry in Bangladesh, India, Lesotho and Nepal.
Nearly £3 million has been committed to support 11 projects that improve the working conditions of some 280,000 workers.
Source: bdnews24
