Implementation of a Trial of an Employment Injury Scheme in Bangladesh

Since 2013, the ILO has worked together with the Government of Bangladesh and industry partners on improving working conditions in Bangladesh’s Ready Made Garments (RMG) sector. Despite remarkable advancement in Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), an important area of work, despite continuing technical and awareness-raising work, that has not advanced as quickly as envisioned, has been that of establishment of an Employment Injury Scheme (EIS) in the RMG sector and beyond. The project proposes developing and implementing a trial on an EIS to display its benefits to employers, workers, brands & buyers and the Government; and to in parallel work on the EIS system administrative mechanism and organizational agreement for establishment of a permanent EIS. The trial has two aspects: First, strengthening the existing capacity of stakeholders in delivering medical care and compensation services for temporary incapacity; second, introducing a risk-pooling approach for long-term compensation and health care for workers with permanent incapacity and long-term compensation for family member of deceased workers. An additional area this project envisions is, strengthening capacity of enterprise clinics in response to COVID-19 pandemic. In discussion with the Netherlands, the donor, as a long-standing partner and interest in improving the protection of the workers and the industry, the ILO has developed a phased technical cooperation, to support the implementation of the trial of an EIS. Phase I is suggested to comprise of 15 months (2021-22) and Phase II (2022-2025), to be adjusted and agreed upon based on the results of Phase 1, is estimated to be around 42 months. This phase-wise donor support is expected to be continuous in order to ensure smooth implementation of the trial’s full implementation period of around five years. The project will primarily work in the RMG clusters, namely, Dhaka and Chittagong Division. The overall objective of the trail is that women and men workers and their families are protected from loss of income due to work related injury and employers are protected from financial and reputational loss. Project’s objective is “women and men workers and employers in the Ready Made Garment (RMG) Sector, are protected from loss of income due to work related injury resulting in disability (permanent/partial) and death and have improved access to health care for temporary incapacity”. Specific objective of the project is to facilitate the introduction of contributory social insurance schemes in Bangladesh through the implementation of Trial of an Employment Injury Scheme (EIS) in the Ready Made Garment sector.The project intends to contribute in four outcomes as: Outcome1: Knowledge base of the stakeholders in fine-tuning and implementing the trial of an EIS strengthened; outcome 2 Trial of an EIS is operational; outcome 3: Capacity of enterprise clinics in response to the COVID-19 pandemic strengthened; and outcome 4: Policy framing for an EIS developed and social dialogue conducted (Phases I and II).

Project symbol

BGD/20/01/NLD

Admin unit

CO-Dhaka

Start date

15/08/2021

End date

30/09/2023

Total allocation

1398311

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

1316184

Development Partners

Netherlands, Embassy in Bangladesh

Country/Countries

Bangladesh

Outcomes

Outcome 4: Sustainable enterprises as generators of employment and promoters of innovation and decent work