🧵 1/9 The latest @eurochammyanmar #Myanmar Garment Sector Factsheet (v2.0), released this month, should be required reading for anyone interested in the country's post-coup labour situation. Incredibly well-researched, referenced and highly relevant. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar

In #Myanmar, the military coup and pandemic led 220,000 garment workers to lose their job. 95% are women and often the only source of revenues of their families. Responsible businesses have a significant impact to avoid extreme poverty. Access to decent work is a human right.

The EU Myan Ku Fund has given out 14 billion MMK in direct cash support to over 90,000 garment workers in Myanmar since 2020. Most have reported it as essential for food security and housing.

Ma Shwe Yee left Yangon in mid-2021, a time of enormous difficulties for 100s of thousands of garment workers. She received 2 cash transfers, once to help her after losing her job and again to help her reintegrate into the workforce when she was ready. https://t.co/x6UZJWeyac

Ma Swe Zin participated in the nutritional programme of Myan Ku, received counselling from our doctors and delivered a healthy baby. As she was in the maternal programme she qualified for 400+ EUR in assistance, some of which she used to purchase a pig, as well as foods/medicine.

Here is another short video filmed by one of the more than 90,000 garment/textile factory worker beneficiaries of the EU Myan Ku Fund. This is her video, her story.

Ms. Zar Ni Win, one of several hundred young women to participate in our vocational and life skills trainings shares about her experience in the programme.

This video is a bit longer, but provides some interesting perspectives from a garment worker and from a factory manager, both trying to navigate the difficulties of the previous year.

Focus areas within this programme include: lunch & snack programmes and canteen capacities, clinic capacities, nursing and child care rooms and related policies.

Nutritionists from one of our factory assessment teams have recently been conducting focus groups with young mothers in several garment factories in Yangon and Mandalay, as they lead a new advisory programme focused on workplace nutrition.

We provided daily free meals and cash stipends of 90,000 MMK each to women who completed the training. We prioritised migrant workers, tens of thousands of whom had lost jobs in 2021.

Our training programme taught the importance of employment contracts and labour law compliance, in addition to technical skills. This is valuable not only for getting a new job, but a decent job.

Ms. Zar Ni Win, one of several hundred young women to participate in our vocational and life skills trainings shares about her experience in the programme.

This is all part of our effort to show the resilience of the apparel sector workers. There are about 150,000 fewer jobs in the apparel factories of Myanmar, end 2021 compared to early 2020. This economic decline presents real challenges for as many families as are affected.

They choose and curate what they want to share. We edit the final submissions and then added in some sound and lighting adjustments + translation subtitles.

We are sharing several garment worker stories over the next weeks. Many of these are “beneficiary led”. This means, we gave the participants smartphones and a few hours of training on storytelling/photography and then they film their own lives, based on what they feel meaningful.

Losing her job was a major worry. Garment factory worker Aye Hnin Soe shares how the EU Myan Ku Fund provided essential cash support for her family, especially during her pregnancy and the first months of her child’s life, giving them a chance to resettle.

https://t.co/egdjP6JJ8C The EU Myan Ku Fund has now supported over 90,000 apparel factory workers with direct cash assistance. Ms. Tint Tint Lwin, one of these beneficiaries, shares her story on how the fund was vital during her family’s lean times, before finding a new job.

Under this proposal, large European companies will be held accountable for human rights violations and environmental harm caused throughout their entire supply chains, including in the textiles sector. @EUMyanmar is working with European business to deliver on this agenda

1/ What are the impacts on people's livelihoods in #Myanmar of the political and economic crises? The People pulse survey, released by @UNDP_Myanmar in December 2021, provides data. https://t.co/aj89s3KAeT