The Mapped in Bangladesh (MiB) project of the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED), Brac University (BracU), organised a webinar recently on "State of the RMG Industry during the Pandemic: Is it on the Way to Recovery?" based on the findings of a recently-conducted rapid survey to address the operational status of export-oriented garments factories during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, says a statement.
The four-year-long (2017-2021) project MiB is being implemented to enable transparency in the RMG sector by developing a digital map (like Google map) with the authentic information of RMG factories collected through the countrywide census. In the beta version of the digital map (https://mappedinbangladesh.org/), MiB has already published information of 2,837 factories from Dhaka, Gazipur and Narayanganj districts while MiB also has 505 factories of Chattogram districts which have not been published in the map yet. However, for the data collection of the rapid survey, MiB has attempted to reach factory contacts over phone of these 3,342 factories and finally, 2,334 factories have participated on the survey. MiB has also compared the total no. of workers of the factories collected during this rapid survey with the total no. of workers collected during the MiB factory census.
Syed Hasibuddin Hussain, Project Manager, MiB, presented the details of the findings of the rapid survey. As per the findings, 1,850 (79 per cent) factories are currently operational, 286 (12 per cent) factories are temporarily closed and 198 (9.0 per cent) factories are permanently closed. Among the operational and temporarily closed factories (total - 2,136 factories), 40.54 per cent of the factories were found to be hopeful to resume their operation in a full-fledged way after June 2020, while 25.14 per cent said that they hope to resume their operations partially and 30.57 per cent factories are uncertain. On an average, the member factories were using 70.55 per cent of their production capacity, compared to 59.83 per cent of production capacity being utilized by non-member factories.
Factories that are currently operational are using 92.1 per cent of their workforce during the pandemic as compared to normal times (before pandemic). Factories from Dhaka district are currently using 96.9 per cent; factories from Gazipur district are using 89 per cent; factories from Narayanganj district are using 94 per cent and factories from Chattogram district are using 92.2 per cent of their usual workforce at present compared to the times before the pandemic.
1,707 factories (92.27 per cent) reported they were producing only their regular products. Out of the 143 factories that were found to have been producing face masks and/or PPE along with their regular products, 69 factories said that they were producing for the export market.
Majority of the member factories (98.61 per cent) were found to have arranged some sort of training or briefing about Covid-19 for their workers, compared to 71.3 per cent of the non-member factories. Factories, especially members of any of the trade associations, had Workers Participation Committee (WPC), and had Safety Committee, took a higher number of measures in the factory to prevent Covid-19 than the non-members having no WPC, and Safety Committee.
Mr. Hussain also demonstrated the Covid-19 map (https://covid-19.mappedinbangladesh.org/) of MiB which was developed from the MiB Rapid Survey. The map shows factories that are open amid the pandemic, factories that are making PPE/face mask, and the current worker numbers of the factories.
The discussants of the webinar have made a number of comments regarding this rapid survey. Dr. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) mentioned that non-member factories were being excluded from the purview of the policy support of the country.
Mark Anner, PhD, Professor, Labor and Employment Relations and Political Science, Pennsylvania State University, suggested a supply chain approach to take care of the vulnerable workers of the factories.
For Dr. Shahidur Rahman, Professor, Department of Economics and Social Science, Brac University, this rapid survey is among the four research initiatives so far on the impact of the Covid-19 on Bangladesh's RMG.
The webinar was moderated by Shamim Ehsanul Haque, Assistant Professor, Brac Business School of BracU and chaired by Professor Dr. Rahim B. Talukdar, Adviser, CED and Team Leader, MiB, CED-BracU.
Dr. Talukder thanked Laudes Foundation and the Embassy of Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN), the two donors of MiB project for their constant support. He commented that the project would not progress so far without the strategic partnership of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) and without the strategic support from Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE).
The webinar was organised using the zoom online platform. Participants from Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Spain, Tanzania, the United Kingdom (UK), Denmark, and the United States of America (USA) joined the webinar.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
