On March 16th, 2023, representatives of the business community and labour rights organizations came together with several embassies, factory investors, international apparel retailers and civil society organizations to formally launch the new initiative, the Multi-Stakeholder Alliance for Decent Employment in the Myanmar apparel industry (MADE in Myanmar). Over 150 individuals joined this event, which took place in Yangon with a hybrid video link for overseas participants.

The new MADE project runs from Dec. 15th, 2022 until Dec. 14th, 2026 and continues the SMART Factories Programme, an initiative running for several years to monitor and improve social and environmental performance within the supply chains of participating retailers. In addition to the work under the SMART Factories Programme, the MADE project contains new components of activities focused on improving factory and industry level grievance mechanisms, facilitating and nurturing bi-partite dialogue and providing enhanced and robust support for women workers, in particular young migrants. MADE is implemented together by partners sequa gGmbH and EuroCham Myanmar, and will be further supported by a broad coalition of local stakeholders and affiliates.

A fact sheet detailing the project can be found here: MADE fact sheet