DHAKA, Feb 10, 2022 (BSS) – Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), German international cooperation enterprise  (GIZ)  and  the  Particip  GmbH  (Particip) on Thursday teamed up to strengthen capacity of factory participation,  safety and anti-harassment committees.

They signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard.

 President of BGMEA Faruque Hassan, GIZ  project coordinator  STILE Dr.  Michael  Klode and senior adviser of  Particip  GmbH Md Manjur Morshed inked the agreement on behalf of their respective  organisations at  BGMEA’s Gulshan office, said a press release. 

The MoU aims to enable these committees to build and maintain a healthy relationship among both workers and management representatives of each committee.

Under the agreement,  the master  trainers  of  BGMEA who  were  provided  with  a  five-day ToT  training, will  train several factory  committee  members  in  the  participating  member  factories  to  develop  their capacities  and  function  more  effectively, it added.

Faruque  Hassan said, “The  RMG industry  of  Bangladesh  has made  unprecedented efforts  and  progress in workplace  safety,  particularly  in  fire,  electrical  and structural  integrity  over  the  past  eight  years.”

Over these years  massive  training  and  awareness  building  initiatives  were  undertaken  to  create  the  culture  of safety,  which  covered  fire  safety  drills  and  other  occupational  safety  and  health  issues,  as  well  as  social dialogue  and  industrial  relations.

"I hope this initiative will strengthen the capacity of workers  and management  representatives  to  make  different committees  more  functional,"  he added.

Mr Michael  Klode  said,  “GIZ’s  objective  is  to  facilitate  experiencing  the  benefits  of  dialogue  and communication  between  management,  supervisors  and  workers  on  the  factory  floor.” 
“Therefore,  we  are happy  to  work  with  BGMEA  to  address  a  range  of  factory  committees  to  ensure  better  communication about  social  and  environmental  standards,  also  gender  issues  that  lead  to  more  efficiency  and  higher productivity," he added.

Among others, BGMEA Directors  Faisal Samad and  Rajiv  Chowdhury, former  BGMEA  Director  ANM  Saifuddin  and  Senior Adviser at  GIZ  Sarwat  Ahmad  were also  present at  MoU signing  ceremony.