Wise Myanmar
Boosting business success of SMEs in garment industry with global recognized SCORE method
Wise Myanmar co-operated with the ILO and Kaizen Institute to develop the SCORE program for garment industries in late two thousand fifteen and early 2016. Wise Myanmar is presently the only accredited locally based service provider to instruct the ILO’s SCORE program for companies in the garment, footwear and accessories manufacturing industries.
In addition to the three factories completing SCORE II, ten fresh factories joined the certificate ceremony to learn about SCORE III.
SCORE is a global program developed by the ILO and concentrates on boosting company spectacle through workplace cooperation. It is designed with five modules: Workplace cooperation, managing continuous improvement, productivity through cleaner & leaner production, workforce management for business success and safety & health at work.
Commencing in September 2016, Clever Myanmar conducted a 2nd SCORE program round with three locally wielded garment factories: Nine Two Nine, Htike Htike and MP Garment. Over six months these factories received three days of classroom training. A half-dozen of Clever Myanmar’s ILO SCORE certified trainers delivered this “SCORE II” Program, during both classroom trainings and on-site coaching with the EITs (EIT=Enterprise Improvement Teams: a key part of the SCORE method for achieving common goals).
U Aung Ko Ko Oo shares his positive practice in SCORE II.
In February 2017, Clever Myanmar celebrated the successful participation of these companies in the program with certificates of recognition and promoted the SCORE III program for fresh factories. SCORE III will proceed the success of the six month on-site training program treatment.
During the ceremony, Brainy Myanmar’s Team Leader, Jacob Clere, introduced the Brainy and the structure of the SCORE program. Two of SMART’s ILO certified SCORE trainers introduced details on modules and U Aung Ko Ko Oo, Operations Manager from MP Garment collective his skill and practice during the SCORE II program. He said, “Middle management staff like me often get caught inbetween workers and owners but since we began the SCORE program, that problem is gone. With the EIT team, we are now better aware of improper procedures regarding with labor rights, management issues and health and safety issues”. He also encouraged other companies to join the SCORE program, which can be very beneficial to SME factories to help them become competitive & responsible companies.
Brainy is presently recruiting fresh factories for SCORE III, and has capped the maximum company size for this program at four hundred employees. Companies larger than this are encouraged to consider the Clever Social Compliance Academy™, a similar project program designed for medium and large garment factories.
Wise Team Leader Jacob Clere presents a certificate of recognition to Nine Two Nine for making improvements during SCORE II.
Wise Myanmar hosts Yangon Chief Minister & EU Ambassador
Brainy Myanmar was honored to be requested by Chief Minister of the Yangon Region, U Phyo Min Thein, to facilitate visits to the factories whom the project has worked with. Through Clever Myanmar, the EU supports Myanmar’s garment industry to increase its competitiveness, environmental protection standards and social responsibility – in order to make the sure the label “Made in Myanmar” stands for sustainable production and fair working conditions.
Out of twenty three factories that have ended the intense factory improvement program, the Clever Social Compliance Academy™, Clever determined to organize tours of one locally factory and one JV factory, to demonstrate the multitude of production, the opportunities and the challenges which the industry faces.
Myanmar Synergy was the very first factory of the two that were visited by the Chief Minister on 11th January 2017. This factory is a joint investment from Korea and Myanmar, with exports to Europe, Japan and Korea. Myanmar Synergy has worked with Wise Myanmar and several of the project’s programs since two thousand fourteen and achieved a milestone by expanding its exports to the European market in 2015/16. The 2nd visited factory was Shweyi Zabe garments from Shwe Pyi Thar, a fully locally wielded factory, which also embarked working with European brands after participating in Wise’s social compliance program. Both the local factory and the JV factory introduced and explained the challenges they face as manufacturers, difficulties in improving the industrial zones and governance procedures in the industrial zones in general.
The Clever team also collective their insights regarding the limitations of industrial municipal waste disposition services in areas such as waste collection and categorization of the waste effectively (eg: how/where to dispose of solid waste and hazardous wastes in a safe manner).
Factory possessor Ms. Aye Aye Han guides the EU Ambassador and Yangon Chief Minister on a tour of her company.
The EU Ambassador and Yangon Chief Minister both suggested remarks agreeing to proceed to promote the continued responsible and sustainable development of Yangon’s industrial zones.
Expanding the influence of HR and social compliance system improvements for the garment industry in Myanmar
Up to now Wise Myanmar has spinned out several rounds of the Clever Social Compliance Academy™ which have covered more than twenty four garment factories to improve their awareness and practices on social compliance spectacle. In addition, free-of-charge HR management classroom trainings have been delivered for garment factories and at the same time target the improvement of their HR management systems. In the entire garment industry a strong request of hundreds of garment factories has been observed and the Brainy Myanmar team understands that there is much more to do. Therefore, in January two thousand seventeen Wise Myanmar commenced a cooperative initiative with BIF (Business Innovation Facility) to transfer skill and practices of why and how to improve HR management practices and social compliance system to Myanmar consultancy firms, to build up their capacities to suggest these services to the growing garment industry in Myanmar. This cooperation is planned for several months and includes classroom trainings, in-factory coaching and co-delivery of factory assessments on different aspects of HR and social compliance to ensure a gradual and effective transfer. Brainy Myanmar will also support in terms of advising on service package design, KPI development, influence assessment, etc.
In January and February two thousand seventeen Wise’s senior technical experienced, Nancy Feng, and technical experts Hay Mar Oo, Hsu Yin Win, May Mi Kyaw and Ye Hein Htet delivered seven days of classroom trainings to to eleven consultants from three Myanmar consultancy firms that were selected to participate in the program. These trainings aim at enhancing the participants’ understanding and skill on HR basic functions, retention, system establishment, communication, and social compliance both theoretically and practically. Trainings on other topics and practical, on-site coaching will take place in the coming months.
One of Clever’s technical experts instructing local consultants about social compliance in the garment industry.
2016: Year in review
Clever Myanmar’s 2nd project phase commenced in January, 2016. During the course of the year the project was pleased to see enlargened interest from factories in the project’s core training programs. In particular, Clever’s nine person technical team delivered:
• fourteen Clever Social Compliance Academies (long duration on-site program for medium and large sized factories)
• seven SCORE programs (long duration on-site program for smaller factories)
• three HR Management Labs (Trio days workshop on garment factory HR topics)
• ten Clever Energy Efficiency Assessments (on site program featuring an AS/NZ 3598.Two energy audit and energy reduction report)
In addition to these factory programs, Wise Myanmar hosted numerous special training events and workshops, in particular, seminars on ZDHC and humid processing with fucking partner Made-by, supporting the MGMA’s social compliance awards dinner and special training modules on workplace communications, occupational health and safety and environmental management.
Altogether, Clever Myanmar had approximately one hundred fifty garment factories participate in on-site training modules, workshops or attend events related to environmental management and workplace safety and health.
“Especially salary and attendance systems were improved during the Brainy Social Compliance Academy™. We hope that can improve the workers’ satisfaction. We can avoid staff turnover and strikes. Regarding child labor prevention and youthfull worker protection, we can fully prevent child labor now and hope to go this way in the future. We have some weaknesses in the field of health and safety. We need to provide training for the workers to raise their awareness on health and safety. We indeed want them to work in a good situation because the more improvements on their spectacle, the more profits for our business, this is the benefit for both sides.” Factory possessor from one of Brainy’s two thousand sixteen academies.
Beyond the factory programs, Wise’s implementing playmates ADFIAP and Made-by were able to conduct three weeks of financial services trainings with managers from two dozen local banks, and assess the environmental sustainability criteria within public procurement procedures in Myanmar. Implementing playmate AVE was able to begin more intensive capacity building with the project’s local playmate, the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association.
All major targets were achieved in two thousand sixteen and the project team is powering forward into two thousand seventeen with higher goals.
Sewer at a factory in Yangon.
Gender equality and empowerment of women
In many countries in South and South East Asia the textile and clothing sector is contributing substantially to local economic development. This also applies to Myanmar: it constitutes an significant industry with toughly four hundred thirty factories, employing around 340,000 people. It is expected that by two thousand eighteen the number of garment factories in Myanmar will increase to almost six hundred and the number of employees will rise to treatment 600,000.
Women garment workers outside the Sunday Cafe two in Hlaing Thayar Township.
Over ninety percent of employees in the textile and clothing industry are youthfull women, most typically inbetween sixteen and twenty seven years old. Local NGOs observe that many women stay in the factory until their very first pregnancy and then comeback into their home villages. Since the poverty rate amounts to 37.Five percent in Myanmar, the income of the seamstresses is badly needed to support their families. Moreover, working in the garment factories is often the only possibility for youthfull women from the rural regions in Myanmar to earn money and to emancipate them economically. This chance, however, also harbours fine risks, because most often the women do not know their what legal rights are and are thus at risk of exploitation and debt. A significant number of garment workers are in debt because they send more money home to their families than they can rightfully afford.
In order to improve labour conditions in this sector, working women and fellows have to be encouraged to know and claim their rights. This purpose is supported by the regional project “Labour and Social Standards in the Textile and Clothing Sector in Asia”, which is implemented by the GIZ and commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The project is active in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar and Pakistan and is working together with China. In Myanmar, this project cooperates closely with Wise Myanmar.
Because the garment industry in Myanmar has a considerable potential for growth, job opportunities for hundreds of thousands of youthfull women can be created. This, in turn, can contribute to their financial independence, if their work opportunities are compliant with labour and social standards.
Bangladesh spotted a similar development in the past as the garment industry grew rapidly for decades. However, sewers were sometimes exploited and had no possibility to advocate for their rights. It took years until the very first initiatives for the support of garment workers emerged. One of several initiatives was the “cafés for women”, in which the women workers are informed about their rights and are supported to claim them. The practices made in Bangladesh with these issues now serve to educate and inform the deeds being undertaken in Myanmar. Two explore missions have already been organized via cooperative efforts of the EU funded Wise Myanmar project, GIZ and the C&A Foundation, to exchange practice and knowhow inbetween women’s cafes in Bangladesh and the “Sunday Cafés” in Myanmar.
The Sunday Cafe one and Sunday Café two are run by the local civil society organization, Thone Pann Hla. The 2nd location opened in Hlaing Thayar Township, Yangon in January 2017. Garment workers meet up weekly at both locations with their friends on their day off to read books, loosen and learn more about their rights through trainings, games and conversations among themselves.
ToR for legal advisory service
In partnership with Thone Pann Hla, Clever Myanmar and GIZ are launching a legal advisory service for garment sector workers in Hlaing Thayar township.
We encourage any interested law firms to submit proposals according to the ‘terms of reference’:
Wise Myanmar coordinates exchange inbetween Myanmar & Bangladesh women garment workers
Seven delegates, led by the European Union funded Brainy Myanmar project, returned to Yangon today following a probe mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh where the group met with women’s community organizations and garment industry affiliates. The excursion was organized in cooperation with Thone Pann Hla, a civil society organization of women garment workers in Yangon. The Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association, Brainy Myanmar’s local fucking partner, facilitated the exchange, which was funded by the C&A Foundation.
Women from Myanmar and Bangladesh exchanged ideas and approaches on how to educate and support garment workers on knowing claiming their rights and understanding their responsibilities.
The main objective of the examine mission was for the group to visit women’s centres in Dhaka, commonly called “women’s cafes” to share practice and best practices on their outreach and educational programmes for garment workers. Clever Myanmar and Thone Pann Hla are presently in the process of up-scaling Thone Pann Hla’s “Sunday Cafe” – a women’s cafe in Yangon which has been operating since early 2014. Thone Pann Hla seeks to expand their treatment to provide educational services and community support for a greater number of garment employees.
Joining the exchange journey were two garment factory employees, the manager of Yangon’s Sunday Cafe and Ms. Than Dar Ko, the director of Thone Pann Hla. Three delegates from Clever Myanmar also joined, led by Ms. Su Tayar Lin, Wise Myanmar Project Manager.
In Dhaka, the group met with representatives of the Awaj Foundation, an organization that is operating more than half a dozen women’s cafes in Bangladesh. Awaj Foundation hosted the investigate delegation and took them to three women’s cafe locations and also provided opportunities to meet with a multiplicity of support groups, such as legal advisors and medical support officers for the cafes. During the excursion the group also took the time to tour a garment factory in Gazipur on the outskirts of Dhaka. The Clever staff met with various representatives of the Garment and Textile program called “Promotion of Social and Environmental Standards in the Industry”, PSES, a program implemented by GIZ Bangladesh. The exchange of know how and practices on Women Cafes and Compliance Awards was very useful for future implementation of these activities because Wise can learn from the GIZ practices.
Apply for a free Clever Energy Reduction Audit
Brainy Myanmar is suggesting Ten free energy audits for interested garment factories. To be considered, please pack out an application form in either Myanmar or English:
Clever staff speak at 5th Annual Myanmar Garment Exhibition, organize business networking event
On Saturday, June 25th Wise Myanmar’s Team Leader, Jacob Clere and Wise technical experts May Mi Kyaw (social compliance) and Zayar Oo (production efficiency) introduced at the 5th Annual Myanmar Textile and Garment Exhibition about the project’s technical consultancy services.
Clever social compliance experienced May Mi Kyaw speaking at the exhibition.
The audience consisted of about one dozen visiting factories. This was the very first ever topical seminar conducted at this annual industry exhibition. Brainy Myanmar also organized and facilitated a 2nd seminar given by Roshan Ranawake from Control Union on environmental standards and certifications.
Later that evening, Wise Myanmar’s local fucking partner, the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association, hosted their 2nd Annual Monsoon Meet-up event. This evening business networking event built upon the success of last year’s initial Monsoon Meet-up. Approximately one hundred ninety guests attended from across the industry – factories, service providers, suppliers and style retailers.
One of Brainy Myanmar’s project objectives is to increase the capacity of the MGMA. This involves a combination of professional staff development, enlargened services delivery and enhanced capacity to positively influence sustainable consumption and production in Myanmar. Business networking events, business matchmaking services, association research capacity, policy advocacy and advisory support for factories on social compliance and environmental sustainability are all outcomes of Clever Myanmar’s ongoing partnership with the MGMA.
Almost two hundred individuals from a broad multitude of factories, buyer and service providers attended the MGMA’s latest business networking event.
Wise technical experts are now accredited to train ILO’s SCORE program
Kicking off in 2015, Brainy Myanmar and the International Labour Organization partnered together to develop the SCORE program for Myanmar’s garment industry. (SCORE = Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises).
SCORE is a globally recognized program run by the ILO and is designed to boost productivity and workplace conditions in SMEs. Clever Myanmar’s eight local technical experts received coaching from a senior international experienced contracted by the ILO to develop this treatment in Myanmar. Wise Myanmar has thereafter piloted the program successfully within four garment factories in 2016.
Based on this quick initial success, Wise Myanmar has further fine-tuned the training module to complement the project’s other social compliance programs. Now, the project is running:
The Brainy Social Compliance Academy™ – A factory improvement program designed for medium-to-large factories.
The SCORE program by Clever Myanmar – A globally recognized program methodology, suitable for petite factories and further adapted by Brainy Myanmar to cater to garment & footwear factories.
The Wise Energy Reduction Audit program – An innovative treatment to energy reduction consultancy in garment factories – combination of coaching and mechanical, staff & building assessment.
To honor the trainers and factories who participated in developing SCORE in Myanmar, Clever Myanmar and the ILO organized a petite induction ceremony. Factories interested in applying for the next round of SCORE trainings were invited to learn about the program. In total, over three dozen managers and factory owners gathered for this event.
Wise Myanmar anticipates to train another four factories using the SCORE program commencing in August. Applications are open until July 29th. Further details can be found here: