The BGMEA/ILO/UNICEF Project in the Bangladesh Garments
Industry — Continuing the Monitoring and Education Components
(Phase III)
| Time-frame |
Donor(s) |
Duration: 3 years
Starting date: May 2001 |
US Department of Labour (USDOL) |
In October 1994, the ILO and UNICEF received a written appeal from
53 Bangladeshi children who lost their jobs in garment factories.
In response, the ILO, UNICEF and several NGOs urged the BGMEA (Bangladesh
Garment Manufacturers' and Exporters' Association) not to dismiss
the child workers until an education system and other measures were
in place. This led to an agreement signed by the BGMEA, the ILO
and UNICEF in 1995. Under this agreement, the three parties concerned
declared their commitment to withdraw all child workers below the
age of 14 years from more than 2,000 garment factories and to provide
them with education and a monthly stipend of about US$7. The project
thatemerged from this agreement (monitoring and verification project
in garment factories) is unique in the sense that the employers
in the garment industry play an active role and financially contribute
to the education of their (former) under-age workers and it is designed
to remove child workers from the largest industrial sector in the
country.
The four major achievements of the project are:
- A radical decrease in child labour at BGMEA member factories;
- The establishment of an effective and credible monitoring system,
and identification and withdrawal of 26,866 children from BGMEA
member factories in just four years;
- Access to social rehabilitation through basic education, stipends,
and skills training for 8,338 working children;
- Close cooperation between two UN agencies, the BGMEA as the
major business association, NGOs, and government institutions.
In addition, two project extended components, funded by Norway
and Italy, remain operational, which are as follows:
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