'RAGS' Gender Discrimination Trainings Continue in India

In India, SAI's RAGS Project continues to roll out its training on "Management Systems to Address Gender Discrimination." On October 29 and 31 in Bangalore, and November 2, 3, 5 in Tirupur, SAI's India Project Director Rishi Sher Singh carried out additional trainings on how to address gender discrimination in the Indian ready-made garment industry.

During the trainings, Mr. Singh noted that the topic has elicited a range of emotions from participants. "All participants strongly agreed on the need to ensure that all workers are treated with dignity and respect, he said. "Participants felt especially emotional when the concept of developing a factory culture where 'work is worship,' was discussed."

Mr. Singh has received positive and encouraging feedback about the trainings. An individual representing a major global retailer who nominated suppliers for the training stated, "I've heard good feedback from almost all participants, almost everyone said the sessions were informative, interactive and lively."

At the training in Tirupur, an individual representing a group of participants on stated: "We, from the bottom of our heart, extend our sincere thanks to you, for your training session on Gender Discrimination. This session was very interesting and informative. Throughout the training session, your enthusiasm kept us energetic and interested. Your explanation [on how to address gender discrimination] really gave a new light, which otherwise was a mystery for us."

As reported in SAI's October newsletter, starting September 2012, four classroom trainings took place in three Indian cities: Tirupur, September 26; Bangalore, October 9; and New Delhi, October 12 and 13. The classroom trainings are part of the UK aid -funded RAGS Project. Funding from this project helps subsidize the trainings to make them affordable for participants from even small supplier factories. To date, a total of 210 participants, representing 93 factories, have been trained in New Delhi, Bangalore and Tirupur.

Classroom trainings will continue until March 2013. Two additional classroom trainings are scheduled for 2012:

• Bangalore, December 7
• New Delhi, December 11

Special thanks to K-Mohan Exports and Texport for hosting the trainings in Bangalore and Shahi Exports for hosting the trainings in Faridabad and Bangalore. PGC and SNQ have hosted trainings in Tirupur.

To view more photos from the training, visit sa-intl.org/indiarags. For more information and to register for trainings, please contact SAI India Project Director Rishi Sher Singh - Rishi@sa-intl.org.