Brac University signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) at the BGMEA Office in Dhaka on October 25, 2021 for developing a digital repository of RMG workers. Professor Vincent Chang, PhD, Vice-Chancellor of Brac University, and Mr. Faruque Hassan, President of the BGMEA, were present at the event.
The ready-made garment (RMG) sector has a history of almost four decades in Bangladesh but comprehensive information on its workers is yet to be brought together. Being a labour-intensive industry and due to the importance of the labour force in ensuring sustainable growth, it is essential to have an accurate, complete and credible data repository of the entire workforce of the RMG industry.
Realising this context, Brac University and the BGMEA have stepped in to collaborate for this project. The digital repository is expected to help design significant interventions and to formulate policies for the workers’ well-being while contributing to Digital Bangladesh Vision 2021.
“Brac University is delighted to be a part of such industry-academia partnership and can play a vital role in bringing research integrity through this collaboration,” said Brac University VC Professor Vincent Chang. “We believe that the MoU signing reflected the commitment of BGMEA for the RMG industry of Bangladesh and BGMEA’s vision for the workers in the industry,” said BGMEA President Mr. Faruque Hassan.
Through this digital repository, there will be knowledge and technology transfer between parties involved in the project Professor Dr. Rahim B. Talukdar, Adviser, Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED), BracU, remarked,
With the aim to enable transparency and accountability in the Bangladesh RMG sector, CED-BracU is already implementing a project named “Mapped in Bangladesh” (MiB) which is a factory census-based digital mapping of all the export-oriented RMG factories in Bangladesh. Along with the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Associate (BKMEA), the BGMEA is also strategically partnered with the “Mapped in Bangladesh” project [www.mappedinbangladesh.org]. The tenure of the MoU for the “Mapped in Bangladesh” project, signed earlier in 2016 between the BGMEA and CED-BracU, was also extended in the same event.
Both parties expect the support of all stakeholders of Bangladesh’s RMG sector for making this project a success story. Mr. Miran Ali, Vice President of the BGMEA, and Ms. Naureen Chowdhury, Senior Programme Manager - Labor Rights, Laudes Foundation, were present at the occasion, among others.