A participatory review of ETI’s gender sensitive workplace programme experience was carried out jointly by participating factories, brands and ETI programme team in a consultation workshop, where they also determined potential future steps to sustain the practices and impacts
The workshop was held on 22 December 2022 in Dhaka. A total of 54 participants (36 from factories; 7 from brands and 11 from ETI) participated in the workshop.
Through a participatory process, participants first identified and prioritized the results of the one-year project. Then ETI presented the outcomes of the endline survey. In the final session, participants identified potential factory level actions that can sustain the practices introduced through the project as well as the impact of the project. Certificates of Acknowledgement for completing the project were distributed among the factories at the end of the workshop.
The results of the program shared by the participants included increased representation and leadership of women in the workplace, improved behavior regarding gender sesitivity and working environment, increased awareness of harassment and gender equality issues, increased confidence and productivity of female workers, and improved training and management practices. There were also positive changes in gender roles at trained workers’ homes and increased support for women's empowerment among male workers. Mechanisms for reporting incidents of harassment were also established and the functioning and responsibilities of the Sexual Harassment Complaint Committees (SHCCs) were better understood.
The potential future activities suggested by the participants included continuation of training delivery by master trainers, behavior change communication activities, customizing training to bite-sized modules, putting a regular monitoring mechanism in place etc. along with regular meetings and operation of SHCCs.
The project activities, throughout the year, included workshop with factory management; training for supervisors, participation committee members, Sexual Harassment Complaint Committees (SHCCs), TOT for master trainers, learning sharing platform meeting, advocacy meeting for promoting female leadership, campaigns on celebrating relevant days/ occasions, technical and advisory support in formation and functionalization of SHCC, IEC/ BCC material dissemination.
