Phnom Penh, 16 August 2006. The Mekong Private Sector Development Facility and the International Labor Organization have just announced an agreement to ensure that Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) lives on when ILO funding ends in 2008. At ILO’s request, MPDF will help the widely-acclaimed garment factory monitoring and remediation project become an independent local entity.
ILO set up Better Factories Cambodia in 2001 in response to a trade deal between the US and Cambodian governments which provided export quotas based on Cambodia’s demonstrated improvements in labor conditions. Since then BFC has earned industry-wide respect for its independent monitoring which has helped factories improve working conditions, comply with labor standards, and increase productivity through monitoring, factory-level remediation and training.
Karla Quizon, Garment Program Manager for MPDF, a multi-donor initiative of the International Finance Corporation, is very optimistic about BFC’s chances as an independent enterprise. “BFC offers a unique and useful product and is highly regarded by all the players in the industry – the buyers, the manufacturers, the unions and government – for helping to ensure the survival of the industry after garment quotas ended on 31 December 2004. Buyers have said again and again that they continue to source garments from Cambodia because of the country’s comparatively good labor record, and they credit Better Factories Cambodia with contributing to this success.”
MPDF will help BFC's staff develop the skills needed to run an independent enterprise with appropriate systems in place. MPDF will also assist in institutional structuring and developing a business plan for BFC's longer-term existence. MPDF and ILO are partnering as well in setting up an international buyers forum.
ILO chose MPDF to help BFC make the transition to an independent enterprise because of its extensive experience in small and medium enterprise development, management training and experience in the garment industry. In 2005, to help improve labor relations between largely foreign supervisors and Cambodian workers, MPDF and Gap Inc. jointly offered human relations training to 650 garment industry supervisors. MPDF also developed, and continues to help local training companies market Business Edge management training seminars and workbooks. In addition, MPDF has been working with various stakeholders and development partners in preparing an industry-wide training strategy for the garment sector.
