Benetton project to empower women in Pakistan & Bangladesh

Italian fashion brand Benetton, under its Women Empowerment Program (WEP), has unveiled the Sustainable Livelihood Project, which looks to concrete initiatives in two years time.

The project aims to empower women in the readymade garment sector in Bangladesh and also home based women workers in Pakistan, to reduce their vulnerability at both, home and workplace.

In Bangladesh, the project will support around 5,000 women currently employed in the garment industry and will organise training courses that will help them strengthen their professional skills.

In the process, the company will help them sign up for basic financial products at banks, such as loans, insurances and savings accounts and speak to their employers, with the aim to increase their safety at the workplace.

In Pakistan, the initiative will support around 1,500 women from Sialkot, under which, priority will be given to the unemployed, those working at home or in the fields and those belonging to ethnic and religious minorities.

Benetton will help each of them obtain an ID, necessary to vote, open a bank account or get access to training courses, while also helping them obtain formal employment and working with textile factories to make them more welcoming for women.