UNCDF in Bangladesh to create financial solutions for garment workers

A new innovative business pilot will help 135,000 readymade garment workers in Bangladesh, including at least 60 per cent women, build their financial and digital literacy skills. The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) together with wagely and a consortium of Quizrr and Ulula have committed $556,000 to improve financial and digital inclusion of workers.

Through this commitment, UNCDF will provide performance-based grants and technical assistance. The technical assistance will include mentorship for partners on human-centric product design, client outreach with a focus on women, partnerships, data analytics and reporting support.

In Bangladesh, the readymade garment manufacturing sector employs more than 4 million people, of whom 2.5 million are women. Following the devastating impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis during 2020-2021, the sector is now recovering, with opportunities to improve environmental, social and governance sustainability to strengthen the sector’s competitiveness, growth and potential for further investment. Utilising digital services has the potential to accelerate these opportunities and improve the decency of work and livelihoods of people employed in the sector, UNCDF said in a press release.

“With UNCDF’s support, wagely will accelerate its ‘Earned Wage Access’ service in Bangladesh, which allows employees to receive accrued wages before payday, and is proven to increase productivity and retention of employees. In addition, wagely will introduce additional financial wellness solutions, in particular for female workers, helping readymade garment workers reach financial resilience and inclusion,” said Tobias Fischer, CEO of wagely.

“Quizrr’s gamified digital training, powered by real time data, allows participatory suppliers to effectively accelerate their human rights due diligence efforts and engage their employees with training on several key topics such as rights and responsibilities, worker engagement and digital wages, to build capacity and track worker’s digital and financial literacy,” said Sofie Nordström, founding partner and Dpt CEO of Quizrr.

"The impact of the pandemic has demonstrated the need to put workers first in order to create more resilient and sustainable supply chains. Through this project, we are combining our worker engagement technology with Quizrr's digital capacity building system to create an integrated solution for RMG workers in Bangladesh and beyond," said Antoine Heuty, CEO of Ulula.

“UNCDF is proud to partner with wagely and Quizrr and Ulula to improve livelihoods, particularly for women, and sustainability in the readymade garment sector in Bangladesh through digitalisation, following the devastating impact the pandemic has had on the sector with some $3 billion worth of cancelled orders in 2020-2021,” said Maria Perdomo, regional coordinator in Asia for UNCDF.

These investments came as a result of the UNCDF project “Promoting Digital Ecosystem Solutions Addressing Women Livelihoods in Bangladesh through ReadyMade-Garment Sector Sustainability amidst COVID-19 and Beyond.”

Launched in the wake of COVID-19, the project applies a market systems development approach to advance the digital service market ecosystem in Bangladesh with a focus on digitally-enabled business models to benefit readymade garment manufacturers and their employees.

Under this project, UNCDF released an assessment of the readymade garment sector in Bangladesh that analyzed opportunities and suggested recommendations for digitalisation to improve livelihoods and the sector’s sustainability and, subsequently, selected partners to implement these recommendations.

Following the implementation of the two solutions by 2022, UNCDF can continue its work with the mobilisation of investment capital, such as loans and guarantees, and further technical assistance.

UNCDF’s work in Bangladesh is part of the global Leaving No One Behind in the Digital Era strategy, which aims to equip millions of people by 2024 to use innovative digital services in their daily lives that will empower them and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.