Protecting indigenous workers from unacceptable forms of work in Bangladesh

The project aims to promote equality of indigenous workers in two target sectors: the tea garden industry and the urban informal sector. The project involves advocacy, capacity building and awareness regarding unacceptable forms of work, grounded in empirical evidence, with a view to enabling constituents and indigenous peoples’ organizations to take action to close protection gaps. The strategy specifically focuses on empowering female workers and on strengthening social dialogue as means to overcome discrimination and to address occupational safety and health issues. The project will target as direct recipients - urban indigenous migrant and tea plantation workers, trade unions and indigenous organizations and leaders, employers’ associations, government officials and media. As a means to overcome participation and representation gaps of indigenous peoples, the project will support indigenous organizations and the Parliamentary Caucus on Indigenous Peoples to accelerate advocacy work for the adoption of the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Bill (BIPR) submitted to Parliament in 2015. While major policy changes will be achievable in the longer term, interventions under the proposed project will take stakeholder an important step further by (1) making partnerships, networks, and dialogue on addressing UFW in target sectors sustainable and inclusive; (2) create immediate positive effects for enhanced protection from UFW in target sectors through awareness, increased capacity to implement existing polices, and greater agency of stakeholders, particular indigenous women; and (3) creating an agreed road map for future action. The proposed project contributes to CPO BGD229 - linked to Outcome 8 - which aims to strengthen access to rights and public services of indigenous women and men in Bangladesh. The following activities contributing to BGD229 will be carried out under the proposed project: 1. Awareness raising and advocacy through dissemination of knowledge and evidence on unacceptable forms of work in target sectors. 2. Capacity building through action-oriented training on relevant international and national standards for men and women workers in target sectors geared to build sustainable partnerships and identify remedial action; 3. Strengthening women tea garden workers’ (or women in 1 urban informal sector) capacity for involvement in decision making in the family and workers’ organizations; 4. Technical support to Parliamentary Caucus Secretariat and the ITP national coordination body for advocacy and lobbying work with Members of Parliament to adopt the ‘Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Rights Act’ Bill (BIPRA) in the national Parliament. 5. A national conference in 2017 bringing together constituents and indigenous organizations to review and discuss, results and lessons learned and with the aim to adopt a plan of action for reducing UFW in selected target sectors.

Project symbol

BGD/16/51/SWE

Admin unit

CO-Dhaka

Start date

01/05/2016

End date

31/03/2018

Total allocation

197809

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

195453

Development Partners

Sweden, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

Country/Countries

Bangladesh

Outcomes

Protection of workers from unacceptable forms of work