Multi-Actor Partnership for Due Diligence in Bangladesh's Textile Sector
A collaborative multi-actor project improving conditions in Bangladesh's garment sector through worker interviews and environmental monitoring to support trade unions and enforce labour and environmental standards.
Project Description
The project brings together Dutch, German and Bangladeshi civil society organisations, international labour organisations, and data partners. Together, they are implementing two complementary approaches to monitor conditions in ready-made garment (RMG) and textile factories around Savar, a major garment-manufacturing area near Dhaka, with potential to be scaled up to other regions.
The first approach -The Worker-Based Monitoring (WBM)- focuses directly on workers. Teams conduct interviews with garment workers outside factory’s premises, ensuring workers feel safe speaking honestly about their experiences. Using a standardized questionnaire called the Decent Work Check, enumerators collect information about real wages, working hours, safety conditions, and whether workers can freely organize and voice concerns. This work is led by WageIndicator Foundation, Mondiaal FNV, and Bangladesh Labour Foundation.
So far, 54 factories have been assessed through worker interviews, capturing the voices of 1,641 garment and textile workers. The survey results are collected and analyzed to measure compliance against Bangladeshi labour law. These findings are then published online and updated annually, giving trade unions concrete evidence to use in negotiations with factory owners and managers. This allows workers to demand real improvements backed by data.
Monitoring Environmental Damage
The second approach - The Community-Based Monitoring (CBM)- addresses the environmental impact of textile production. Dyeing and printing factories use toxic chemicals that often end up in local water supplies. Communities living near these factories face serious health problems from drinking contaminated water and breathing polluted air. Led by HEJSupport and ESDO, this approach documents environmental damage by collecting water and soil samples that provide scientific evidence of pollution.
When chemical sampling confirms contamination, cases are forwarded to local authorities and courts to support enforcement action and hold factories accountable. This approach gives communities the evidence they need to protect their own health and environment.
Objectives
Role WageIndicator
- Collecting worker data
WageIndicator designs and runs the worker Decent Work Check (DWC) together with its local partners Bangladesh Labour Foundation, ensuring questions are clear and the data collection process is safe for workers.
2. Turning data into insights
WageIndicator processes all the information collected from workers, checking it for accuracy and organizing it in ways that reveal patterns and key issues like wage violations and safety problems. WageIndicator also creates clear reports showing how factories compare against Bangladesh labour law. These are designed so trade unions, brands can easily understand the findings and use them to push for change.
3. Supporting unions and partners
We help trade unions and partners use this data in practice - through training, visualisations, and collaboration - so they can strengthen negotiations with employers and push for better working conditions.
Funders
FEMNET e.V. with funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) • Mondiaal FNV
Events
Project Partners
- FEMNET e.V. (Lead)
- ESDO (Environment and Social Development Organization)
- BILS (Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies)
- HEJSupport
- INKOTA-netzwerkSÜD
- SÜDWIND-Institut
- WageIndicator Foundation
- Bangladesh Labour Foundation
- Mondiaal FNV
WageIndicator Foundation, Bangladesh Labour Foundation and Mondiaal FNV are responsible for rolling out the Decent Work Check across 50 factories for the duration of the project under the header of "Worker-Based Monitoring (WBM)".
