Leading sector skill council, Apparel, Made-ups & Home Furnishing Sector Skill Council (AMHSSC) and globally well-known brand Marks & Spencer (M&S) have joined hands to work for the promotion of gender equality and empowering garment factory workers through – Providing Opportunities for Equal Rights to Women (POWER-1) Project.
The project, with 14 peer trainers, will cover 15 factories with minimum 100 workers each.
The programme POWER-1 was launched in a virtual session in the presence of Narender Goenka, Chairman, AEPC and ATDC; Premal Udani, Chairman, AMHSSC; Dr. Roopak Vasishtha, CEO, AMHSSC; Nidhi Dua, Regional Head India & Sri Lanka – India Sourcing Perspective, M&S; Fiona Sadler, Global Head of Responsible Sourcing – M&S Plan A (Global Perspective) and Ranjeeb Sarma, Head of Compliance and CSR, M&S India and Sri Lanka.
In a press release, AMHSSC informed that the initiative is to maximise benefits to the apparel and textile industry by voluntarily joining a programme for a safe work environment for women by leveraging a conducive sustainable environment at top, supervisory and workforce level.
Training will be conducted for workers, supervisors and managers, including those from middle and senior management, and the same is intended to facilitate a safe work environment for women and break the culture of silence, the premise of this project.
The programme will focus on creating awareness about gender equality, empower male as well as female workers, laws pertaining to prevention, prohibition and redressal against gender-based harassment and formation of policies and systems.
This process will impact the workers in the years to come, spurring on a positive change in a work culture that values the labour of women and their dignity.
