The STOP – Enhancing Women’s Voice to Stop Sexual Harassment project is implemented in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar to promote a safe working environment for female garment factory workers in the region.

Background

Sexual harassment is a global issue. It is a form of gender-based violence – one of the most tolerated violations of workers’ human rights. It is a deeply sensitive issue rooted in unequal power and gender relations and disproportionately affects women and girls.

The project, Enhancing Women’s Voice to Stop Sexual Harassment, is working in four countries in the Mekong to address sexual harassment in the garment industry. Through this project, CARE is leading the development of contextualized models to support industry, government, and civil society in preventing and responding to sexual harassment. The project will develop, test, and adapt workplace models for the prevention of and response to sexual harassment in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. The project is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Gender Action Platform, and the Australian NGO Cooperation Program.

Objective of STOP

Long-term project goal: women workers in garment factories experience safer workplaces, due to a reduction in sexual harassment.

End of project outcome: garment factories implement effective and appropriate models to address sexual harassment in the workplace.

STOP’s Approach

• Supporting garment factories to develop effective workplace mechanisms to respond to sexual harassment.
• Supporting female garment factory workers to feel safe to report sexual harassment, and through engaging with factories, to do so free from negative consequences.
• Strengthening the national regulatory environment of factories to promote laws, policies, and mechanisms to address sexual harassment in the workplace.

How does STOP work?

The project draws on CARE’s success in Cambodia in developing a workplace package for garment factories. CARE’s package includes a workplace sexual harassment policy; an implementation guide for factories and comprehensive multi-media training for factories to deliver to staff to prevent and report sexual harassment. The package, developed in consultation with government, industry, and garment workers, will continue to be tested in partnership with factories in Cambodia.

In Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, CARE is adapting this work, working with unions, industry, NGOs and government to identify, test, and roll out appropriate models. Models and packages will be designed to respond to the legal and gender issues in each context and will be tested with stakeholders including garment workers.

Development of packages will draw on global evidence of what works from: CARE’s expertise in developing a package in Cambodia; insights into the prevalence and nature of sexual harassment; country legal, political and situational analysis; CARE’s global review of the evidence of what works in organizational change and development in relation to sexual harassment; and the field of social psychology.

The project will strengthen the evidence-base on the effectiveness of workplace interventions to tackle sexual harassment in factory settings. Evidence and research from the project will inform national advocacy efforts in relation to reform and regulation addressing workplace sexual harassment.

Through its regional approach, the project will also support CARE’s global campaigns including the proposed International Labour Organisaton Convention to eliminate Workplace Gender-Based Violence. The project will leverage CARE’s global advocacy and will work in collaboration with our International Dignified Work team to increase the impact of this project.

This regional approach also enables CARE to develop evidence and share learning internally and externally on what works in preventing and responding to sexual harassment. Through this project, CARE is leading the development of contextualised models to support industry, government, and civil society actors in preventing and responding to sexual harassment.

Participants of STOP

Time

 7/2017 – 6/2021

Donor