The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has shaken the world’s economy and supply chains. In the case of Bangladesh, the ready-made garments (RMG) sector, which has been one of the major drivers of economic growth in Bangladesh over the last 40 years, has been especially hard hit, with garment workers being affected the most. In order to understand the long term implications of the pandemic on RMG workers, the Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies, in association with BRAC University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship Development and the James P. Grant School of Public Health, released a report titled The Impacts of Covid-19 on the Lives of Workers in the Garment Industry based on a rapid survey conducted between June 30 and July 13, 2020 with a total of 1,057 garment workers, to understand the impact of the pandemic on their health and livelihoods.

 

This research, contributing to the Chowdhury Center's mission of improving the quality of life of those in Bangladesh, has been impactful in several areas:

 

• Widespread coverage of the research in the Bangladeshi media (in both the English and Bangla presses)
• Chowdhury Center director's Op-ed in The Daily Star, a leading English-language newspaper in Bangladesh
• Research highlighted in international forums, including by the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, and Just-Style, to serve as a resource for scholars, activists, the private sector, and practitioners, as well as to help inform advocacy campaigns by the Clean Clothes Campaign and the Business and Human Rights Resource Center.

• With key groups, including labor activists, the private sector, government officials, academics, policy makers, journalists, and concerned consumers through a series of webinars
• Webinar organized by CED- BRAC University, September 30th, 2020
• Upcoming webinar: In partnership with Stanford's Center for Asian Health Research and Education (CARE), December 4th, 2020, 8-10 am PST (Registration details coming soon). Speakers include: 
  • Hasan Ashraf (Anthropology, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh)
  • Dr. Imran Matin (Executive director, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development), 
  • Dr. Rebecca Prentice (Anthropology, University of Sussex)
  • Dr. Sanchita Banerjee Saxena (Chowdhury Center, UC Berkeley)
  • Dr. Ashley Styczynski (Infectious Disease, Stanford)
  • Dr. Ranak Trivedi (Health Psychology, Stanford)

• Research findings will link the impact of disruptions in the supply chain on workers livelihoods, chapter forthcoming in an edited volume, Confronting the Covid-19 Pandemic While Protecting Human Rights (Forthcoming, Routledge, 2021)
• Research will inform an article to appear in South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies special edition, "Ties that Bind: Women’s Textile Labor in Contemporary South Asia" (forthcoming, 2021)
• Case study modules with the findings from this research to be used for classes in the social sciences, business, law, and public policy

• A UNDP funded project on understanding global brand strategy during the pandemic and how to institutionalize long term changes to prevent hardship in future disasters, in collaboration with the Institute for Human Rights and Business
• Plans to work with individual global brands on how to prioritize resources under Covid-19
• Plans to develop worker-centric programs in the factories 

• Strengthening existing partnerships with BRAC University and BRAC USA
• Forging new partnerships with the Institute for Human Rights and Business, the United Nations Development Program, and the Business and Human Rights Resource Center

If you would like to read this report then please click HERE or on the image in the right sidebar. 

Our event line-up for the Fall semester has changed a little. Two new events have been added. They are marked with a "NEW" in the list below:

Sanchita B. Saxena
Director, Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies