Beschreibung der Beschaffung
The textile and garment industry, with its large clusters in the Punjab, is Pakistan's most important manufacturing sector. In addition, there is the production of leather, leather garments and footwear, branches of the fashion industry. In 2017 it accounted for about 60% of export earnings and 8.5% of GDP and its share of industrial labour force was around 40%. Textile processing consumes large amounts of water, chemicals, energy and generates hazardous waste. There is little control over compliance with the already weak environmental legislation. The working conditions in the sector are dominated by poor workplace safety, low wages, as well as a lack of dialogue between trade unions, employers" associations, and state institutions.
The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has commissioned the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with the project "Improvement of Labour and Environmental Standards in Pakistan"s Textile Industry" (TextILES). The implementing partner of the project is the Federal Ministry of Commerce of Pakistan. The project focuses to develop approaches to synergize the economic, ecological, and social dimension of sustainability in the production of the textile and garment industry.
The project supports selected producers in the textile and garment industry in Punjab (textile, garments, leathers, shoes, sports, and other subsectors), promoting and facilitating dialogue and exchange among multiple stakeholders, as well as knowledge sharing and mutual learning. This is combined with capacity development measures to link improvements in labour standards with progresses in production processes, and, by this, to contribute to sustainable growth and employment.
TextILES is working on four outputs:
In Output 1, cooperation between public and private sector actors and cooperation within these groups will be improved to promote social, ecological, and economic sustainability in production in the textile and fashion industry. The assumption is that cooperation between the private and public sector is recognised by all stakeholders as a means of promoting sustainable production.
The measures in Output 2 aim to strengthen the capacities of state actors responsible for compliance with labour and environmental legislation in the industry. The assumption is that the role of state actors in shaping conducive framework conditions beyond subsidies and at the same time in consistently monitoring compliance with legal requirements (e.g. labour rights) is acknowledged.
The objective of Output 3 is to increase the supply of business services to strengthen sustainable production. This includes consultancy services for the adaptation of business models, for the development of innovative products, for the introduction of new technologies and for change management along social, ecological, and economic criteria. The assumption is that investments in such change processes are worthwhile from a business perspective and that companies have access to appropriate financing instruments.
The objective of Output 4 is: Employment and employability, especially of returning migrants, have increased/improved by the systematic use of sustainable production practices.
This tender is focusing on Output 4.
Workers and managers of industry tend to neglect ownership of sustainability measures suggested by third party audits, these audits have proven to be ineffective. One of the reasons is, that third-party audits do not contribute to involving workers and managers to build ownership for sustainability measures and improve and maintain sustainability. This applies also to the textile and garment industry in Pakistan. To address this problem, TextILES" predecessor projects and their partner companies jointly developed the methodology "Dialogue for Sustainability" (DfS). DfS is a change management/process consultation methodology to bring positive change in organizations. It is a self-help methodology leading to solutions created by the process owners themselves. The idea of DfS is to create an environment of effective dialogue where top management, middle management, and workers (all levels of hierarchy) can collectively work towards sustainable solutions to the organizational problems.
The DfS methodology is in use in Pakistan since 2014. It has produced results that exceeded expectations, which has also been acknowledged by the participating textile and garment producers. Till date GIZ and its partners have implemented this methodology with around 50 partner enterprises in Punjab"s textile and garment industry. One of the unintended results of the implementation of DfS methodology was a significant increase in employment. Thus, the project will apply the DfS methodology with a focus on business development and job creation in this phase.
GIZ TextILES team seeks to implement the DfS methodology in 36 textile enterprises in Punjab in a 20-month cycle, covering the thematic area of Productivity & Quality and the area of HR & Labour Standards.
GIZ TextILES has already developed supporting modules and guidelines for several thematic areas, including Productivity & Quality as well as HR & Labour Standards. These modules include the technical content of each thematic area and didactic guidelines for executing a complete cycle of DfS. These modules will be shared with the contractor and the contractor is expected to use them as a helping guide to first develop a thorough understanding of DfS and later implementing the DfS on enterprise level.
Target group of the assignment will be staff and management of all hierarchies of 36 partner textile enterprises, located in different parts of the Punjab province of Pakistan. The enterprises will vary in size, but most partners will be from SMEs as they have the most untapped potential.