In conversation with the STITCH consortium: Introducing CDI
Meet An Dinh Ha, Deputy Director at Center for Development and Integration (CDI), a Vietnamese non-governmental organisation working for the rights of the disadvantaged groups to build a society of equity, solidarity and sustainable development.
Training on CSDD for brands and suppliers in Vietnam
What is your role at CDI?
As the Deputy Director of CDI, one of my on-going roles is managing the labour program, which includes leading program strategy and direction, fund raising, building capacity for team members and operation of multiple projects promoting better working conditions and responsible business practice in different sectors, including domestic workers and oversea migrant workers.
STITCH is a meaningful initiative, especially for CDI, because within the framework of STITCH in Vietnam, firstly, it is the implementation of a long-term program aimed at improving working conditions and promoting responsible business practices in the Vietnamese textile industry through various interventions. Secondly, STITCH brings many opportunities and resources for CDI to develop the organization. Therefore, my role in STITCH at CDI, in addition to strategic direction, project management, and supporting activity implementation, also includes organizational development, which involves improving the management and operational systems, enhancing staff capacity, sharing and learning from experts to improve expertise, and strengthening skills to help CDI become more sustainably developed.
I lead project strategy for STITCH, working closely with partners to develop long-term partnerships, proper workplans and budget that are consistent with the project's objectives, priorities, and expected outcomes at national and global level. The STITCH team at CDI has regular meetings to review project progress, the achieved result, for identifying and addressing issues that may jeopardize projects’ outputs, including risk management analysis, planning and budgeting for the next period.
Besides advising the team in building and implementing project activities, I also participate directly in the implementation, such as being a facilitator at seminars, workshops or a lead trainer at training classes and other capacity building activities for factories management, and workers on important topics, such as: social dialogue in the workplace, grievance mechanism, gender equality, Vietnam labour code and international labour standards and risks assessment at the workplace.
Training on CSDD for brands and suppliers in Vietnam
I always seek collaboration opportunities with other partners at different levels which can help organisations extend their reach to new audiences or markets, thereby increasing our program's overall impact and effectiveness in achieving goals. Partnerships provide opportunities for mutual learning and capacity building, helping organisations improve their practices and strategies.
What is CDI responsible for within STITCH?
CDI is one of the labour organisations within the STITCH consortium, along with trade unions and multi-structure initiatives (MSI) promoting the sustainable development of the global textile and garment industry.
CDI operates mainly in Vietnam – a production country which ranks third in terms of export turnover worldwide. With CDI's vast experience of working closely and directly with factory workers and understanding the challenges they face in the workplace on a regular basis, we focus on collecting, encouraging, and amplifying workers' voices to relevant stakeholders with the ultimate purpose of creating positive changes in policies and practices within the textile industry, as well as fostering meaningful cooperation and collaboration among suppliers, business associations, and brands.
We also work on strengthening capacity of workers through providing knowledge on Vietnam labour laws, gender equality at work; improving related skills in the workplace which enables workers to properly assess their own working environment, protect themselves from occupational risks, as well as monitoring compliance with national and international laws and regulations of businesses.
Capacity building: Training on social dialogue in the workplace for factory workers
Suppliers in Vietnam lack the knowledge on labour legal regulation, and soft skills in communication with workers at factory. They are also in the less powerful position compared to buyers and brands in the supply chain. We provide training, capacity building for suppliers, so that they can better comply with international labour standards, Vietnamese labour laws, and legal regulations from purchasing countries, improving their position in the global supply chain.
Having experience working with stakeholders in the textile and garment industry in Vietnam and globally, CDI has been making efforts to connect and promote collaboration among national and international stakeholders, such as government entities, the private sector and social organizations, to share and update information, learn good practices, and collectively support the sustainable development of the textile industry.
The priority themes that CDI focuses on are promoting effective workplace communication, improving internal and external grievance mechanisms, implementing corporate sustainability due diligence with meaningful stakeholder engagement, enhancing gender equality, and preventing gender-based discrimination and violence.
What does your day look like?
STITCH gives me extremely diverse working experiences. My working day ranges from having multiple meetings with different teams in a short amount of time, to planning and managing multiple on-going activities. However, getting on a plane or a bus, travelling to factories to meet workers from different regions of Vietnam to hear them share their stories, provide them with necessary support, knowledge, and motivation is still something I take great pride in.
Preparation and implementation of these training sessions requires collective effort from our entire team with numerous steps which are carried out in many days. First, it is identifying the needs of different factories and areas that need improvement within STITCH-focused topics, including grievance mechanism, social dialogue in the workplace, gender equality, responsible business and due diligence practice. Then, designing training materials and agenda to cater to each factory’s needs, as well as coordinating logistics with our team and the factories. The next important step is delivering training to factory managers and workers, followed by writing reports reflecting training’s results. After each activity, we make necessary adjustments and improvements to be able to achieve more thorough and proper implementation at the next factory.
Despite the constant difficulties and challenges we face, I believe our work at the grassroots level contributes significantly to the goals of STITCH and is vital to the improvement and eventual transformation of the textile and garment industry.
What achievement has CDI contributed to within STITCH that you are proud of?
One of CDI’s various contributions within STITCH is the development and maintenance of the WE CHECK mobile application. This valuable tool has provided significant support to thousands of garments and textile factory workers in Vietnam supply chain.
Specifically, WE CHECK enables factory workers to learn more about their own benefits, Vietnam legal labour regulation through proper channels, to voice their concern, complaints or questions, and to be counselled by expert lawyers, to assess and track their working conditions and occupational health status, and to connect with critical resources in order to ultimately improve their working conditions within their factories. Furthermore, with the concrete data and information from WE CHECK, supplying factories could make the proper improvements internally and eventually better their positions within the global textile and garment supply chain.
What is the biggest challenge on the path to transforming the garment industry, and which solution to this challenge do you think can be the most impactful?
The biggest challenges in the path to transforming garment industry are the fragmentation of industry, the power imbalances between suppliers in production countries and buyers and brands in market countries; and how workers’ voices can be leveraged to drive industry action, and to inform worker-driven CSDD in practice.
Recognising these challenges, CDI, together with STITCH, has been implementing coordinated and systematic interventions that contribute to gradually addressing each of the aforementioned issues. The capacity-building activities and the promotion of exchanges and collaboration that CDI provides to workers, factory management, social organisations, and brands will help reduce the power imbalance between suppliers and brands in the supply chain. WE CHECK is expected to be a useful tool and a solution for workers to voice their concerns and convey their messages to stakeholders, contributing to driving industry action and informing worker-driven corporate sustainability due diligence in practice.