Homeworking has a strong gender dimension as the majority of home-based work is done by women. This is an important source of livelihood for millions of women in South Asia. However, they are often engaged in the informal tiers of the supply chain – hidden from the sight of auditors and prone to precarious employment and economic exploitation.
Traidcraft Exchange and its partner organisations are geared up for the ‘Hidden Homeworkers’ programme.
The Hidden Homeworkers programme is a partnership between Traidcraft Exchange, Homeworkers Worldwide and HomeNet South Asia, a consortium of NGOs supporting homeworkers in apparel, footwear, cotton and accessories sectors, with co-funding from the European Union.
The programme aims to create knowledge and awareness around transparency and traceability for responsible value chains for homeworkers of India, Nepal and Pakistan.
Besides, it intends to and has the expertise on supporting brands in developing a suitable homeworking policy, map and manage homeworkers in supply chains as well design interventions for homeworkers and other informal workers in sourcing clusters.
A practical toolkit for brands has been developed under this project to help improve transparency about homeworking within their supply chains.
To bring different supply chain actors together for ensuring the rights of home-based workers, Traidcraft India organised a virtual ‘whole supply chain consultation’ recently (with support from AIDER NGO).
The event was attended by several international brands and representatives of export houses, CITI, ILO and MSIs, such as the ETI, FLA and FWF, local worker representatives and SEWA Delhi chapter.
The representatives from these organisations shared their perspectives on how the working conditions of homeworkers in the global value chains can be improved through multi-stakeholder collaboration.
This initiative also set up a multi-stakeholder working group in the Tirupur cluster to ensure the continued focus on homeworkers and their issues.
This is an action-oriented group which meets regularly and has participation from different supply chain actors who have come together to find ways to support homeworkers at a community level through supply-chain interventions. They are looking to set up a similar group for North India homeworking clusters.
Source : ttps://in.apparelresources.com