OIKKO (Unity)-United for Translating Rights into Action NOW€¦ · work towards securing their rights to dignified work and others entitlements. The project OIKKO (“unity”) has

PROJECT BRIEF NOTES March 2017 1

Background and Inspiration:

CARE is a global confederation of 14 member

organizations working together to end poverty.

CARE fights poverty and social injustice by

empowering women and girls. CARE places

special focus on working alongside poor women

because, equipped with the proper resources,

women have the power to help whole families and

entire communities to escape poverty. Over the

last decades CARE has developed approaches

and methodologies to transform community

and individual practices, and change social

norms that perpetuate gender discrimination

and the subordination of women in the society.

The organization has developed cutting-

edge approaches to prevent violence against

women using cost analysis tolls and community

mobilization, expand opportunities for women

by making value chains inclusive and promote

the leadership and collective action of women

employed in the formal and informal sectors

like the Ready-Made Garments (RMG) sector.

These approaches promote women’s economic

and social empowerment and enable them to

work towards securing their rights to dignified

work and others entitlements. The project OIKKO

(“unity”) has emerged from the learning of

SEEMA (Solidarity and Empowerment through

Education, Motivation and Awareness) funded by

the European Union for the period of August 2011

to June 2014.

RMG Sector of Bangladesh:

The Bangladesh Ready Made Garment (RMG)

sector has become a key driver of economic

growth, transforming the country into an export-

orientated powerhouse (USD 24 billion, 2013-

2014) that generates 13% of Bangladesh’s gross

domestic product. It has created an economic

lifeline for over four million workers, of which 80%-

85% are poorly educated women, largely from

rural areas.

Despite their numbers, women in the RMG

sector suffer from a lack of voice and/or control

over working conditions1. This lack of voice and

a gender imbalance in leadership results in

the exclusion of gender issues from the labour

rights discourse (e.g. unequal pay, maternity

protection, family and work reconciliation, child

care provisions, sexual harassment, gender

1 Bangladesh Labour Assessment Study 2011

based violence, etc.). In addition, women are

socialized to believe their participation in unions,

workers participation committee (WPC) and

decision-making bodies is not important or of

direct benefit. More generally, workers’ trade union

membership is very low in the RMG sector due

to industry hostility and poor enforcement of the

rights to freedom of association and collective

bargaining. Low representation affects women

workers heavily; chronic under representation of

women in trade unions, particularly in leadership

and decision-making, results in unions ultimately

failing to appropriately represent women workers.

There is an inextricable link between the lack

of women’s voices in the RMG sector, and their

status beyond the factory walls, where there

is inadequate recognition of women’s social,

economic and political contributions. In their

communities and with their families, women

experience harsh living conditions, lack of control

over income, limited decision-making power and

participation, and an inability to voice opinions

and realize their aspirations. Women also face

regular threats of physical violence and verbal

harassment.

OIKKO (Unity)-United for Translating Rights into Action NOW

PROJECT BRIEF NOTES March 20172Oikko (“unity”) - United for translating rights into action NOW:

The “OIKKO (“Unity”) - United for translating rights

into action NOW” project is contributing to the

realization of fundamental rights of workers in the

Bangladesh ready-made-garment (RMG) industry.

The action will empower female factory workers

and will strengthen labour right actors, from the

grass-roots level up, to join forces for promoting

the enforcement of the new labour law amendment

from July 2013 and for pursuing further reforms

in the sector. The actions of the project aim to

address the limited influence civil society has had

to date on compliance, respect for workers’ rights,

and workplace conditions in the RMG sector, and

bridge the disconnect between workers and their

representatives. The actions will have a far reaching

impact at the grass root level on community

workers. Marginalized and socially excluded

women workers will join in to solidarity groups (the

OIKKO impact group), outreach will inform the link

in to the grass roots labor rights movement and the

families of the workers will benefit from collective

pressure, social dialogue and peaceful activism

recognizing worker’s living conditions to support

minimum wage implementation and further steps

towards realizing a living wage and compensation.

CARE is working with SHEVA Nari O Shishu

Kallyan Kendra, Agrajattra and Karmojibi Nari

to implement this project in Dhaka, Gazipur and

Chittagong city corporation area.

Overall Objective of the project is “a strong and

united civil society promotes the implementation

of fundamental labour rights in the ready-made

garment (RMG) sector in Bangladesh”.

Specific Objective of the project is “to

strengthen the capacity of labour rights actors

and increase the voice and influence of female

garment workers”.

Expected Results (ER) of the project:

ER-1: 3.000 female garment workers have

developed leadership skills and networks to

collectively claim their rights (through EKATA

solidarity groups).

ER-2: 600 labour rights activists from trade

unions, NGOs and CBOs have increased capacity

to exert a leadership role in outreach and within

unions.

ER-3: Key civil society stakeholders have

developed joint positions and lobbied to promote

labour rights and gender equality.

Project Activities: The major activity of the project

is to build solidarity to ensure RMG workers’ rights.

To do this, the project

l Mobilizes Female RMG workers, through

the formation of two types of solidarity groups

called (i) EKATA (Empowerment, Knowledge

and Transformative Action) groups which are

small solidarity groups and (ii) Community

Workers’ Associations (CWAs) - the larger

solidarity groups to collectively raise the voice

of the RMG community. The EKATA group is

developed following a tailored made EKATA

module for solidarity building, basic awareness

on rights and entitlements, basic leadership

skills through 9 months process of EKATA. In

total 50 EKATA groups are formed and each

group consists of 30 female RMG workers. The

larger solidarity groups called CWA (10 nos.)

led by selected representatives (high potential

leaders) combine 8-9 EKATA groups following

a selection criteria based on their geographic

location. The members of CWA will go through

a rigorous capacity building process following a

tailor made training module which will reflect on

advance leadership skills focuses on advocacy,

communication, organizational management

etc. The CWA member will work closely with

trade unions/federations to increase their

participative especially in decision making and

leadership position as well as to raise their

voice at national level.

l Mobilizes community through the formation

of Community Support Groups (CSG) to create

an enabling environment for RMG workers. The

support group members are from local gate

keepers/elites and service providers and they

will also work as mentors of CWA. This group

will address the community level issues of RMG

workers affecting their life in the community

as well as participate in different forum as an

advocate for raising workers issues.

l Builds leadership Capacity Building of Trade Unions/Federations and potential

leaders emerged from solidarity group (EKATA

and CWA). A training pool has been developed

with trade unions/federations to strengthen the

outreach activities of trade unions/federations

for increasing the participation of female RMG

workers specially in leadership and decision

making positions as well as to collect their

issues affecting their lives both at factory

and community level. A gender sensitization

training module also was developed for

conducting the training on gender issues with

male leaders of trade unions/federations.

l Uses evidence-based advocacy to promote the rights and entitlements of RMG workers.

Built on various study findings undertaken by

the project like baseline study, end evaluation,

minimum wage versus living wage study, watch

report etc. the project will carry out a series of

advocacy events such as forming a national

platform of civil society organizations to

influence policies which will promote the rights

and entitlements of RMG workers.

Key Findings of Baseline Study:

AGENCY LEVEL

45% of the workers are aged between 18-23 and

only 19% are beween 30-35 years of age. Only 6%

of workers are over 35+ of age. The experienced

and skilled workers do not or can not continue the

work for long time. Education qualification of the

female RMG workers is low or without education.

Half (50.0%) of the women reported having 3 to 4

members in their family, and nearly one third

(29.7%) had five or more members. Nearly half

(43%) of the respondents stated that their

husbands were economically dependent on them.

Some of the respondents (13.3%) also had to

support family members who are dependent on

them. Most of the workers (76.6%) earn BDT

5,000-11,000. The study found out that 18.8% of

workers earn below BDT 5,000.

PROJECT BRIEF NOTES March 2017 3Most of the workers (52%) work as operators and

most of the workers’ (56%) service length of current

factory is 1-2 years. The regular migration of the

RMG workers is a huge problem for RGM factories.

Due to facing harassment and misbehavior the

workers want to change their factories. 89.3% of

the respondents reported facing slang language.

Physical harassment has been faced by 3.6%

garment workers. Female workers are commonly

subject to harassment by their supervisors

(92.9%) and line managers (32.1%).

More than half of the workers said that (56.3%)

their family members allow them to take self-

decisions. Of them, 38.9% think they can influence

decisions regarding purchasing assets (e.g. land,

furniture) and one third (33.3%) of workers said

that they can influence family decisions regarding

child rearing, including their education.

Unmarried workers living away from their families

may retain greater control over their incomes, but

the custom of remitting wages for the education of

siblings or the sustenance of the family appears

to endure. Slightly over half of the respondents

(51.6%) admitted that they have some savings from

their earning though the amount is very small. Of

then more than three quarter (42.4%) have bank

accounts, and nearly 14% preferred to purchase

sanchayapatra (saving instrument for profit).

Workers have some knowledge on labour law

and a large majority (95.3%) knew that a woman

worker is entitled to get maternity leave, a large

majority (82.0%) admitting that they are sure

about the number of days a worker is entitled

to sick leave, and almost the same percentage

(81.3%) knew that a factory worker is entitled to

protective equipment.

STRUCTURE LEVEL

92.2% workers have ID cards and 53.9% have an

appointment letter from the factories. Not having

an appointment letter creates insecurity to the

workers about the job sustainability.

More than half (60.2%) reported that their factory

has a committee for occupational health and safety

committee. But the function and responsibilities of

this committee is not clear to them.

The majority (60.9%) claimed that an anti-

harassment committee exists within their factory

and a large majority (91%) claimed that this

committee was helpful to prevent harassment and

to assist the victim.

The majority of workers stated that their factories

have a workers’ participation committee. When

asked how the PC committee was formed, nearly

half (49.3%) stated that the committee was

constituted by their authority, and nearly one third

(29.3%) mentioned that it was formed both by the

authority and workers.

Training facilities in the factory can help the

workers to know their roles and responsibilities

in the factories and improve their relationship

with the management. Nearly one-third (30.8%)

received training on firefighting, followed by 15.4%

who said they had received training on health

care and factory environment, and the same

percentage (15.4%) stated that they had received

training that covered labour law, empowerment

and rights related to working environment.

Gender-based discrimination at the work place

is fairly prevalent according to female factory

workers’ report in the study population. The data

show that a quarter (25.8%) of respondents

reported being subject to unequal treatment by

the employer based on sex.

The majority of workers (59.4%) mentioned that

the salary should be paid on time. About three-

quarter (35.9%) of the sample identified bonus

which they expect to be paid on time. Almost a

similar proportion (34.4%) stated that their entitled

leave should be given on time. Cooperation from

the employer was also mentioned by the female

workers (13.3%).

RELATIONSHIP LEVEL

More than half (64.8%) indicated that it was their

own decision to join in the RMG factory. Less

than a quarter (20.3%) said that their husbands

motivated them to work in this sector. Around 6%

said that their father inspired them to work in the

garment factory.

If ten people consider my job well living in Dhaka,

other twenty accuse me that I am doing something

like ‘kharap kaaj’ [indicating prostitution] here

besides working in the garments factory. They say

eat less rather than working in garments. (A 25

year old female garment worker in Gazipur)

Most of my rural people comment that I am a bad

person and I also had negative perception about

female garment workers. But as I am a garment

worker now, I can understand that nothing is

bad working in this profession. (A 23 old year old

female garment worker in Gazipur)

Most of the RMG workers seek economic services

like bank, loan and saving services for them.

Health is one of the major concerns for them and

55% of RMG workers go to the local pharmacy to

buy medicine without seeing any doctor.

PROJECT BRIEF NOTES March 20174

In the factory RMG workers go in the first place

to their supervisors to seek support to solve

problems and they play a supportive role to RMG

workers in the factory. In the community, the house

owner is the most supportive place for RMG

workers.

Women’s employment in the garment industry

has affected self-esteem and social identity, and

it has influence on their social status. Almost half

(49.2%) of the female workers placed themselves

in ‘lower middle class’, while about 51% claimed to

belong to the middle class.

Only a small proportion (3.1%) of the respondents

are part of some kind of group, federation and

of them half (50.0%) reported that they became

a member of a trade union or federation. Nearly

half (41.9%) said that they were not aware of any

union or federation.

Intervention Modality:

• Solidarity building among female RMG

workers for collective bargaining and

action taking following the OIKKO Model

Holistic workforce empowerment framework

and capacity building of EKATA & CWA and

trade union/federation leaders

• Community mobilization through the

Community Support Group for creating an

enabling environment in the living community

• Research and evidence based advocacy for

policy influence (forming a CSO Platform)and

collaboration with labor actors

The OIKKO Model

EKATA (Empowerment, Knowledge and

Transformative Action) is the starting point of the

OIKKO Model. Through EKATA, the project will

build solidarity among the female RMG workers

in the community following leadership and life

skills capacity building to raise their voice at the

work place and in the living community. In EKATAs

the project will increase the knowledge of RMG

workers on their rights through Peer Facilitation.

To complete the EKATA process it requires for 9th

months for the graduation of EKATA members.

From EKATAs, the potential leaders will be selected to form and functionalize a larger solidarity group called Community Workers Association (CWA). These potential leaders will lead the CWAs as larger platform for workers in the local community and at national level particularly to increase the female workers participation in trade unions/federations especially in decision making positions and for collective bargaining to claim their rights and entitlement with stakeholders. The project will nurture these potential leaders for their leadership and advocacy capacity building for two years. Some leaders from CWAs and EKATAs will work as outreach workers in the trade unions/ Federations to increase the participation of female RMG workers. The project will develop a module for outreach on how trade unions can reach workers at the community level and increase their participation in trade unions/federations both at local and national level. CWAs will also support RMG workers in the community to solve their problems both at work place and in the living community.

Conclusion: Bangladesh is currently at the take-off stage towards graduating from a lower developed country (LDC) and it has set an ambitious goal of socio-economic and technological development

to be reached by 2021. By this period, the GoB and the business community intend to double the production and export of garment products, which target is 50 Billion USD. In order to achieve the target of production and export, a trained, aware and organized labour force will play a vital role. Hence, there should be greater befits and incentives for the RMG workers as main production agent. It would not be irrational that the Government of Bangladesh, employers (RMG sector) and buyers collectively introduce a living wage and allows business friendly trade unions for the workers in the next few years. This may be a potential branding point of a world’s leading

garment exporter country.

Contact Person: Humaira Aziz, Director-Women & Girls’ Empowerment Program, CARE-Bangladesh ([email protected]), Md. AbuTaher, Team Leader-OIKKO, W&GE Program, CARE-Bangladesh ([email protected])