Transforming South Africa's clothing sector: SCORE training empowers SMEs

Guateng and Cape Town, South Africa (ILO News) - Building on the achievements of the first SCORE implementation between 2020 to 2021, the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry (NBCCMI) and the ILO are joining hands again to improve the productivity, competitiveness and working conditions of South Africa’s clothing manufacturing sector.

With the support from the Government of Flanders, the ILO implemented a 24-month project on “Promoting Decent Work through Productivity and Workplace Cooperation Interventions in South Africa’s Clothing Manufacturing Sector” between 2023 and 2025. It adopts a systemic approach to address the key constraints to productivity growth and decent work: At the sector level, the project sought to improve the capacity of national institutions that provide support to the clothing manufacturing sector; At the enterprise-level, SCORE Training was implemented in more than 40 textile and clothing manufacturing firms. This brief summarizes key results achieved by the project.

© Cheryl Chan / ILO

© Cheryl Chan / ILO

To celebrate these achievements by participating enterprises, two knowledge sharing workshops were organized on 15 and 16 April 2025 in Gauteng and Cape Town. Over 100 participants attended the two workshops, including representatives from R-CTFL Masterplan Steering Committee, South African Clothing Manufacturing Association (SACMA), South African Apparel Association (SAAA), Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (SACTWU), Government of Flanders, clusters, retailers, SCORE Trainers, SMEs and their workers.

The workshops provided an important opportunity for key stakeholders of South Africa’s clothing manufacturing industry to engage in an open discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing the sector and the role of NBCCMI and the SCORE programme. It included presentations on the challenges facing the clothing manufacturing sector and stakeholder priorities. Additionally, SCORE Trainers and enterprises shared key achievements and lessons learned from SCORE Training and a video produced by the project was shown. The workshops also featured interactive discussions, which provided opportunities for participants to provide insights and engage in constructive dialogue with different stakeholders regarding the way forward for the sector and future collaboration for promoting productivity growth and decent work.

© Cheryl Chan / ILO

© Cheryl Chan / ILO

There was widespread appreciation from the clothing industry - both from workers and enterprises - as well as their representative organisations on the achievements of the SCORE Programme and a strong interest to continue implementing SCORE Training in the clothing sector.