ETI Bangladesh and Fair Wear Foundation organized a webinar on promoting suppliers’ voice in purchasing practices and celebrating UN 16 days of activism on September 27, 2022 where 197 representatives from 103 garment factories in Bangladesh participated and shared their experiences.
ETI Bangladesh and Fair Wear Foundation organized a webinar on promoting suppliers’ voice in purchasing practices and celebration of UN 16 days of activism on September 27, 2022. A total of 197 participants (35 female, 162 male) from 103 garment factories in Bangladesh, mostly senior officials from different department namely, Sr. merchandiser, HR and compliance manager, assistant manager, head of compliance, assistant general manager, DGM and director participated and shared their experiences.
Agenda of this collaborative webinar was to brief on Better Buying Institute(BBI) Partnership Index survey and to discuss preparation for celebrating UN 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.
Better Buying Partnership Index (BBPI) Survey
The first session focused on promoting suppliers’ voice through participation in the Better Buying Partnership Index survey. This is an instrument designed for suppliers to share their direct feedback (anonymous) on purchasing practices of their brand partners. This survey is an accessible set of 14 questions for factories to answer about their relationships with brand partners. This helps measure progress and accelerate changes in the industry to have a sustainable business relationship. The survey questionnaire is available in different languages including Bengali. This is the second cycle of the survey, which will remain open from October 3 to October 31, 2022. Participation in this survey requires 5-10 minutes. The supplier needs to fill up questionnaire separately for individual brand.
During open discussions, factory representatives also shared their views and experiences highlighting the importance of the survey to assess the current purchasing practices.
Celebration of UN 16 days of activism against gender-based violence
The second session concentrated on the celebration of UN 16 days of activism against gender-based violence 2022. A presentation was given on the background of UN 16 days of activism, its objectives, and benefits. This year’s theme is “UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls”- Ending Femicide. This activism will be celebrated worldwide from 25 November to 10 December 2022. ETI and FWF also shared their plan on the celebration of this activism this year and welcome the respective factories to be part of the campaign.
Factory representatives who celebrated this campaign last years shared their experiences related to this campaign in their factory with advisory support from ETI Bangladesh. FWF also shared their initiatives taken last year for the celebration of this campaign.
The webinar ended with an urge to participate in the Better Buying Partnership Index survey and celebrate UN 16-days of activism. Factory representatives also opined that they would participate in the survey and provide their valuable feedback to their respective brand. They also agreed to celebrate UN 16-days of activism against gender-based violence and requested ETI and FWF to extend support to promote a harassment-free workplace.
