QuizRR is growing in Bangladesh

Today, QuizRR held an award ceremony for the Rights and Responsibilities Pilot Participants where 12 garment suppliers had achieved the goal of the project, training more than 10 percent of their workforce in basic rights and responsibilities during the pilot phase of 3 months. The suppliers had been invited to join the project by the Swedish brands; Intersport, Gina Tricot, MQ, and KappAhl and have up to date completed over 8520 training sessions in Bangladesh, training more than 3950 employees. Impressively, one of Gina Tricot’s suppliers, J L Sweaters, trained over 2000 training sessions, reaching over 30 percent of the factory’s total workforce. During the award ceremony, our speakers highlighted the importance of training workers in basic rights and responsibilities and by doing so, the participating brands and their suppliers are taking a leading role towards sustainable change in the garment industry.

After the award ceremony the Nordic Embassy also hosted QuizRR, Nordic brands and Bangladeshi garment suppliers for a kick off meeting, starting the pilot phase of the newest QuizRR tool – Worker Engagement. Dialogue and engagement at the workplace is vital in order to create secure workplaces and decent jobs and the benefits of taking these issues seriously can pay of not only in employee satisfaction but in also in increased production and decreased turnover. Johan Frisell, the Swedish ambassador, pointed out that by participating in the Worker Engagement pilot, suppliers are not only role models but at the same time investing in good long-term sustainable business. Viveka Risberg from Axfoundation highlighted that Nordic brands and buyers are very loyal to the Bangladeshi garment industry but also stressed the importance of social dialogue and workers voice as essential components for continued prosperity. The pilot project is a collaboration with IEH (ETI Norway) and 12 of its Norwegian member brands and will take place in over 25 factories now starting in Bangladesh closely followed by China. The pilot will run for 3 months and the goal is to train at least 10 percent of the total workforce

Working with dialogue and engagement is a win win for everyone involved in global supply chains and it’s about time that we start taking workers voice seriously.