Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) Initiatives

Sudokkho’s Gender and Social Inclusion Strategy used three complementary approaches to mainstream GSI: 

• Integrating GSI considerations through all programme stages from analysis and design, through to implementation and evaluation;
• Implementing targeted pilot interventions where there are significant challenges for women or disadvantaged groups; and
• Creating an inclusive environment within Sudokkho that enables all staff to grow and make best use of their diverse talents.

The programme adopted different approaches for the RMG and Construction sectors, as the barriers faced by women and the disadvantaged were different.  

In the RMG sector, Sudokkho facilitated skills training and promotion of women to semi-skilled and skilled positions, recognising a disproportionate percentage of women in low skilled jobs. The RMG industry, one of the largest export sectors in Bangladesh, is well placed to provide large-scale employment opportunities for women. 

By increasing the skills of the industry’s largely female workers and creating a more inclusive training system, Sudokkho aimed to create opportunities for better pay and career progression. Criteria for IBT selection that requires factories to select senior SMOs to be trained as trainers have ensured that the majority of Sudokkho trainers (64%) were female, offering a new career progression route for women and the consequent benefits of increased income, confidence, and social status. Encouragement of factories to select female supervisors (9% of supervisors trained were women) and assessors (58% of assessors trained were women) for training also enabled female workers opportunities to enhance skills.

In the construction sector, Sudokkho focussed on entry and popularisation of ‘non-traditional’ occupations, such as plumbing and house electrician, for women. Sudokkho built the capacity of PTPs to identify strategies to recruit, retain, deliver an inclusive and safe training environment, and place women in employment.