The International Finance Corporation (IFC) wants to facilitate the process of the readymade garments (RMG) sector becoming more competitive, compliant and environment friendly. After Rana Plaza disaster and Tazreen Fashions fire, the IFC, private sector wing of the World Bank Group, has been comprehensively working with all the stakeholders of RMG sector for better and safer working environment in Bangladesh.  “We were involved in RMG sector before Rana Plaza and Tazreen tragedies. After the Rana Plaza disaster, we looked at the sector how we could make it more competitive and compliance,” Wendy Werner, IFC Country Manager for Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan told the FE at her office in the city recently.  She talked about IFC’s involvement with private sector and its development, especially in RMG sector. Ms Wendy Werner said, “After the Rana Plaza all of the stakeholders worked together for compliance and improving the social condition. We are quite happy to be working with BGMEA, Accord and Alliance, and the government. Last year, we provided $40 million in four banks for mediation finance.”   Ms Werner, who had worked with IFC Bangladesh nine years ago and has now come back as country manager, thinks Bangladesh has challenges in infrastructure development despite many positive changes during the nine years.  “I can see a lot of changes. A lot of people who were working abroad have come back. I think more sophisticated foreign investors are looking at Bangladesh now.” “This really has brought a lot more technology and knowledge for the country’s private sector development. It will help us to do more value addition here in Bangladesh. Investment in infrastructure development is still a challenge. Much more could be done. But I want to look at the positive side,” she said.  She said the IFC is trying its best for development of the private sector in Bangladesh.  “We have increased our investment portfolio significantly in last few years. IFC Bangladesh is in top 20 global exposures now and we aim that it would be top ten going forward.” About involvement with Fire Safety Expo, she said, backing the Expo is tied to the IFC’s country strategy focusing on climate change, regional integration and inclusive growth. Better Work is another partnership programme between the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the IFC which was launched in February 2007.  Better Work involves development of both global tools and country level projects. The focus is on scalable and sustainable solutions which build cooperation between the government, employers and workers’ organisations, and international buyers. Werner said improving labour standards in global supply chains is an important part of a pro-poor development strategy. Ensuring workers’ rights and entitlements help enhance the benefits of trade. The IFC is improving safety and working conditions for 350,000 workers through the Better Work programme in partnership with the ILO. The IFC provided $40 million last year to four private sector banks, each $10 million, in Bangladesh to increase lending to garment factories for upgrading their structural, electrical and fire safety (SEF) infrastructure.  The banks are Prime Bank, United Commercial Bank Ltd, City Bank and Eastern Bank.  “So far, 20 companies have already received loans while the banks are currently working with many others to disburse further loans under this programme. More disbursement will occur next year,” she said.  Giving example, she said Debonair is one of the textile companies that has carried out safety remediation after taking a loan of $1 million from  City Bank. Ms Werner said, “We have partnered with VF Corporation, a global buyer, to provide up to $10 million for building upgrades and fire and safety improvements in vendor factories in Bangladesh.” With this financial commitment, VF is providing a corporate guarantee for IFC remediation loans to VF suppliers. The programme will enable the IFC to award loans at a reasonable cost to qualified suppliers who own factories in Bangladesh producing VF products. PaCT or Partnership for Cleaner Textile is another programme of the IFC which helps factories pick up technology and best international practices aimed at reducing ground water extraction and surface water pollution. “To date, PaCT has partnered with 169 textile factories to support them to implement sustainable, resource-efficient projects. These projects have not only led to huge savings in resources, but have made a cumulative cost savings of US$ 8 million/year for the factories involved.”

Some 21 selected readymade garment (RMG) factories of the country have successfully implemented the internationally recognised occupational health and safety (OHS) standards for industrial workers and workplace safety.  A certification event was held in a city hotel on Wednesday to disseminate the impacts of OHSAS 18001 standards being implemented in those selected garment factories in the country.  Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar, Inspector General of Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) Syed Ahmed, Line Director of the Non-Communicable Disease Control (NCDC) Faruk Ahmed Bhuiyan, Senior Vice President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Faruque Hassan and First secretary of German Development Cooperation in Bangladesh Roswitha Amels, among others, spoke at the event.   The event was organised by the Support to the Health Sector Programme II (SHSP II), a Bangladesh-Germany joint project, to showcase the positive impacts of implementing OHSAS 18001 on those factories.   The project is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, which works on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). These days Bangladeshi industrial sector has addressed the specific issues of fire, building and electric safety, and it is time to adopt a holistic approach to address the OSH through operationalising of a management standard, Mr Shipar said.  Until now, OHS measures implemented in the industry have been sporadic and disorganised in their approaches. Though there have been numerous efforts for mitigating occupational risks, there lacks, as yet, a unifying standard for measuring and regulating OHS measures. Assistant manager (Sustainability) of DBL Group Mashook Mujib Chowdhury presented his company’s experience with OHSAS 18001 implementation.  Apart from the ethical grounding in which such standards should be implemented, he elaborated on the potential benefits of these measures to factories and the industry at large. These included greater acceptability in the compliance-sensitive western markets, which took on added importance following the tragic incidents of Rana Plaza and Tazreen.  Moreover, the benefits of ensuring health and safety of garment workers have also been translated to increase worker retention and productivity, as well as the mitigation of massive cost burdens that workplace accidents and hazards would entail, speakers said.