Improving occupational safety and health in the garment and construction supply chains in Madagascar

The project Improving Safety and Health in Madagascar Textile Supply Chain is part of the ILO's Flagship Programme on Occupational Safety and Health Safety + Health for All, which provides a global perspective and local solutions to improve the safety and health of workers. Within this framework, and thanks to funding from the Vision Zero Fund (VZF) which focuses on global supply chains, the ILO has carried out an in-depth analysis of the incentives and constraints for improving occupational safety and health (OSH) in Madagascar's textile sector under the previous phase of the project.

The analysis identified a number of challenges and opportunities for improving OSH in the supply chain. On this basis, the project started to work with national, regional and sectoral actors to promote safety and health for all its workers. At global level, the project seeks to promote industry-wide dialogue on OSH issues with the multinationals present and textile sector in Madagascar. At institutional level, the project builds the capacity and promote dialogue among institutions such as the labour inspectorate, the labour courts and occupational health services institutions to improve OSH for workers along the supply chains. Finally, the project intervenes at workplace level to support social partners to improve OSH for all their workers, including those in the informal economy.

In the long term, the objective is to sustainably reduce the number of deaths, occupational accidents and diseases and to create a culture of prevention in the supply chain.

This project has the characteristic of covering the entire textile chain, from cotton cultivation to garment manufacturing. The knowledge, tools and lessons learned from this intervention will be used for the implementation of other VZF-funded projects in the textile sector, particularly in Ethiopia.