Implementing partners are sequa gGmbH and EuroCham Myanmar.
MADE has a Steering Committee chaired by the EU Delegation in Myanmar with membership from sequa, EuroCham and the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, and a Secretariat provided by the MADE team. Additional independent members may be invited to join the Steering Committee.
MADE emphasises workplace safety, through a variety of methods and approaches, including technical evaluations, and training which involves workers in creating a safety culture in the workplace.
Staff of MADE/SMART Factories Programme provide their business cards to workers participating in interviews and focus groups and encourage them to get in contact if they experience any problems related to participation in the programme. In reality, this has rarely, if at all, been the case for workers in the hundreds of factories with whom SMART has previously engaged. Indeed, participation usually empowers workers to raise issues with management and secure improved conditions, through better access to, and understanding of, their legal entitlements.
A more systematic grievance hotline will be established for the MADE project, to include the Factories Programme. Retailers participating in MADE must commit to ensure the safety of complainants within their supply chain.
MADE continues and expands on the earlier SMART projects; incorporating 'SMART 3', the Factories Programme. However, it introduces two new components (the Forum on Supply Chain Conduct, and the Women's Centres), and a new 'Alliance' between the project and participating brands. This is based on feedback from stakeholders and intended to address the current situation in Myanmar since the 1 February 2021 coup.
The SMART Factories component of MADE improves working conditions in garment factories through a combination of assessment, advisory, and training services. One way that SMART Factories improves social compliance in factories is by conducting assessments to identify areas where factories are not meeting local and international labour standards. The assessments cover areas such as wages and benefits, working hours, occupational health and safety, and freedom of association. The findings from the assessments are shared with factory management, workers, and other stakeholders, and used to develop action plans to address the identified issues. SMART Factories also provides advisory services to factories to help them implement the action plans and improve their social compliance performance.
Another way that SMART Factories improves social compliance in factories is by providing training and capacity building to workers, factory management, and other stakeholders. The training covers topics such as labour laws and regulations, workers' rights, workplace safety, and environmental sustainability. SMART Factories also works with factory management to develop policies and procedures to address social compliance issues and helps them to implement these policies effectively. The training and capacity building programs aim to create a culture of continuous improvement in factories, where workers and management are empowered to identify and address social compliance issues proactively.
Full-time technical experts in the SMART Factories programme are experienced and qualified factory assessors and engineers, with strong technical knowledge in their subject areas.
The European Union provided 10 million EUR in support to workers who lost their jobs during COVID. This ‘Myan Ku’ Fund ran from April 2020 to December 2022 and was administered by UNOPS utilizing staff capacities and networks within the SMART project.
Myan Ku supported approximately 90,000 garment, textile and footwear sector workers with direct cash assistance through mobile money disbursements, as well as 400,000 EUR in food vouchers and direct food aid funded by private sector retailers.
About a third of Myan Ku’s cash and voucher assistance went to around 3,000 young mothers from the sector, many of whom received cash assistance for half a year or more during their pregnancy and/or after delivery. Doctors and nutritionists from Myan Ku provided nutritional counseling support to the women, and several other smaller programmes were also administered on vocational training and alternative skilling for unemployed factory workers.
Some of the capacities developed under Myan Ku are now continued within MADE under the Centres for Women’s Advancement. One of the nutritionists runs a nutrition help-desk and provides in-factory technical assessments focused on enhancing worker nutrition and medical provision (clinic capacity assessments, canteen review, support to develop breastfeeding rooms for young mothers and related activities). Civil society partners also continue to administer psycho-social counseling and sexual and reproductive health counseling to interested current and former garment workers.
MADE promotes full conformance with the Globally Harmonized System for chemical management, conformance with the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals protocol, education about HiGG FEM requirements, a phase-out of coal boiler fuel in favor of solar thermal, biomass waste products (such as rice husks and wood scrap) and, in general, resource efficient, waste-minimizing factory production systems.
Alliance Member Companies commit to achieve full compliance among suppliers with the globally harmonized system (GHS) for chemical inventory management and labelling by 31 December 2023. (GHS compliance is a legal requirement in Myanmar under the 2013 Chemical and Related Substances Act. Factories with substantial chemical storerooms are generally required to be compliant with storage, labelling and safe use requirements).
Furthermore, the climate crisis requires strong action to phase down carbon emissions. Alliance members commit to work towards a complete phase out of coal boiler fuel in Myanmar by 31 December 2025, including in the suppliers used by Member Companies.
The MADE project employs several technical staff (electrical engineers, textile engineers, chemical management specialists) focused on safe and efficient chemical management, energy efficiency, promotion of renewable energy solutions (solar PV, biomass, solar thermal, etc.), water efficiency and solid waste management.
An added benefit of technical work on energy efficiency and chemical management is expert capacity within the project for technical safety evaluations of boiler and steam systems, electrical systems, ventilation systems, chemical storeroom management practices and compressed air systems, among other areas. The project’s engineers often discover and work to remediate major safety issues in factories receiving energy audits and chemical management assessments. Many such safety issues are not observed by typical social compliance auditors, as they require more specialized equipment used by project engineers, including data loggers, thermal imaging cameras, Volatile Organic Compound spectrometers (VOC meters) and more.
Retailers wishing to join the MADE Alliance, which gives access to priority placement for their supplier factories within the project’s various programmes and workshops, are required to sign an MoU. This outlines joint commitments of the parties. Retailers are also expected to financially contribute to the project in a manner consistent with their production volumes in Myanmar, to supplement the EU’s contribution to the programme.
Enrollment is open to all retailers willing to make the commitments outlined within the project’s MoU. Retailers signing earlier will receive support for their suppliers on a first-come, first-serve basis. Those signing later in the year are very likely to be waitlisted until additional technical experts can be adequately developed and/or contracted.
Factories supplying non-member retailers can participate in some modules of the project, but priority placement is given to factories supplying members of MADE.
The European Union’s cooperation work in Myanmar is solely conducted by means of Special Measures for the direct benefit of the Myanmar population and civil society, without collaboration and engagement with State authorities/governmental structures.
The EU does not foresee the MADE project will involve any policy discussion with, and/or direct financial contributions to, State authorities/governmental structures.
No. Participating in MADE should contribute to a company’s heightened due diligence of their Myanmar supply chain by helping them better engage with rights holders and understand human rights risks and how to mitigate them, individually and collectively. But each retailer needs to examine their own supply chain and its unique risks.
Participating in MADE is not intended to fulfil any ‘safe harbour’ requirements currently being discussed related to company participation in multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSI).
Yes, partners in the MADE project believe that there are very severe constraints to freedom of association, and to the operation of trade unions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society in Myanmar. It was this which prompted the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2022 to establish a Commission of Inquiry in respect of the non-observance of International Labour Standards in"Myanmar, in particular Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87)" " and the" Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)".
However, despite the severe challenges to freedom of association, trade unions still legally exist at factory level, and at federation level. Organisations and individuals committed to supporting workers rights continue to operate, despite the difficult circumstances. MADE aims to support their resilience, and their ability to engage with business to resolve grievances.
