Rana Plaza Disaster: Funding of International Supply Chain Research Project
Two years after the Rana Plaza building collapse, a global research team will examine what changes have occurred in the policies and practices of retailers and brand firms, as well as changes in factory practices in Bangladesh.
The building collapse in Savar Upazila of Dhaka, Bangladesh, killed more than 1,100 garment workers. Now, two years later, a three-year research project is starting and will involve leading researchers from the University of New South Wales, the London School of Economics in the UK, the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany, Gothenburg University in Sweden, and BRAC University in Bangladesh. The project is funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Riksbanken Jubileumsfond and the Volkswagen Foundation with 800,000 Euro within
the Europe and Global Challenges funding initiative. The April 2013 Rana Plaza building disaster focussed the world's attention on building practices and safety and triggered a major international commitment to improving labour and environmental standards in Bangladesh and more generally. "Significant changes are occurring but little is known about their content and impact. Many well-known firms pledged improvements in standards. We are keen to find out the results of such commitments," said one of the project's leaders, UNSW Business School's Professor Stephen Frenkel. "This project will assess what exactly has been done." The study will analyse what changes have been made in the policies and practices of lead firms in global garment manufacturing across two liberal market economies (Australia and the UK) and two co-ordinated market economies (Germany and Sweden). It will also examine changes in Bangladeshi factories that supply garments to these lead firms – and see if factory managers and workers perceive improvements in safety standards, and labour and environmental practices more generally. Research will focus on the 20 largest clothing retailers and brand firms in the four developed countries and factories supplying these firms in Bangladesh and workers employed in the Bangladesh clothing sector. Bangladesh's garment industry, employing around 3.6 million people, accounts for 13 % of GDP and nearly 25 % of the country's exports. The well-being of Bangladesh's people, particularly women who comprise over 80 % of the industry, depends crucially on the garment sector which in turn relies on lead firms in the EU and other developed countries. But there are only 'soft laws' to encourage lead firms to hold their suppliers to international labour and environmental standards, and the Bangladesh government has been slow to implement fundamental social and infrastructure reforms. "The Bangladesh garment industry is a critical case for examining the effectiveness of combining private, public and civic regulation to uphold labour and environmental standards," said Prof Frenkel. "What governance systems have been developed to improve labour and environmental practices? And do these new systems work effectively?"
Background of the Funding Initiative Europe and Global Challenges The
funding initiative entitled "Europe and Global Challenges" was set up to provide support for research projects predominantly in the humanities and the social sciences. It is required that, beside European scholars, the project involves researchers from at least one other region of the world. The initiative addresses the future challenges facing Europe in respect of climate change, migration, demographic change, and economic uncertainties. The aim is to inspire scholarly interest in such challenges beyond mere cooperation at the European level, and to promote collective supranational action on a global scale.
