BKMEA-Swisscontact deal inked to help RMG workers

An agreement was signed between Swisscontact and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) for economic rehabilitation of Ready-Made Garments (RMG) workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, says a press release on Monday.

Swisscontact – Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation is a Swiss non-profit-organisation, which carries out projects aiming at reducing poverty in developing and transition countries by private sector development.

Mohammad Hatem, first Vice President of BKMEA and Syeda Ishrat Fatema, Team Leader of the Sarathi signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations. Along with other participants, Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, Director of BKMEA, Md. Saifur Rahman, Head of Communications at MetLife Bangladesh, Farzana Sharmin, Joint Secretary (Compliance Cell) of BKMEA, Rumana Akhter Tulee, First Vice President of the Bank Asia Limited and Salma Akhter, Senior Advisor-Partnerships & Advocacy from Sarathi were also present in the virtual signing ceremony.

Sarathi-Progress is working with commercial banks in Bangladesh to bring RMG workers and residential community members within the sphere of mainstream commercial banking and enable them to conduct transactions as account holders and clients, it also stated.

The press release said, 17,000 RMG workers have received financial literacy training and 200,000 people were reached through mass awareness campaigns conducted by Sarathi. Under this agreement, Sarathi will collaborate with BKMEA to identify small and medium scale RMG factories, who are struggling to receive production orders in the time of the pandemic.