Promoting Green Growth in the Ready-Made Garments Sector Through Skills (PROGRESS)

The Promoting Green Growth in the Ready-Made Garments Sector through Skills (PROGRESS) project envisions fostering an inclusive, environmentally responsible, and competitive RMG sector in Bangladesh. It aims to create productive, well-paid, secure, and decent job opportunities for workers, primarily women, while aligning with the evolving needs of the global market. This includes promoting the use of energy-efficient technologies and green growth and ensuring adherence to Environmental and Social compliance. 

PROGRESS is part of the broader Climate Action for Local Level (CALL) initiative, contributing to its overarching goals of climate resilience and sustainable development in Bangladesh. As part of this initiative, nine Swiss NGOs in Bangladesh have collaborated to design a comprehensive framework consisting of 12 projects focused on disaster preparedness and climate resilience.

The PROGRESS project is designed to address critical challenges within Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garments (RMG) sector, a vital economic driver and source of employment, particularly for women. Despite its position as the second-largest clothing exporter globally, the sector faces growing pressure to meet international standards in sustainability, productivity, and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) compliance

Key Challenges:

1. Limited Opportunities for Workers, Especially Women:
   • Insufficient upskilling and reskilling opportunities hinder job security and career progression, leaving women disproportionately affected.
2. Skills Deficit in the RMG Workforce:
   • A lack of sustainable, industry-driven technical skills development initiatives has resulted in an insufficiently skilled labour force, with women being particularly underrepresented in skilled roles.
3. Inadequate Local Support Services:
   • The scarcity of local technical service providers specialising in skills development, productivity improvement, and ESG compliance creates a significant barrier to sustainable growth for small and medium factories.
4. Environmental and Economic Vulnerabilities:

• Communities dependent on the RMG sector face threats from climate change, including rising temperatures, flooding, and salinity intrusion, which compound economic instability and exacerbate the sector's challenges.
• Small and medium RMG factories face significant challenges due to their limited capacity to adopt energy-efficient and renewable energy technologies. This, combined with restricted access to green financing and technical expertise, hinders their efforts to address climate-related risks such as flooding, salinity intrusion, and rising temperatures, exacerbating economic instability in the communities that depend on them.

Expected Results

• Empower workers, particularly women, to secure better job opportunities.
• Enhance factory competitiveness, sustainability, and alignment with global standards.
• Improve community resilience against climate change impacts and economic instability.
• Strengthen the RMG sector's contribution to Bangladesh's economic growth while promoting inclusivity and sustainability.
• 81 private sector actors, including RMG factories and other manufacturers, will be capacitated through tailored training programmes and other technical support for green transition.
• 23,000 workers (60% women) workers will demonstrate increased productivity after training completion.
• 12600 workers (60% women) workers will demonstrate increased productivity after training completion.
• SEK 26 million has been mobilised to date, with an additional SEK 7.5 million expected to be mobilised by 2026.