CARE Deutschland e.V.

CARE hat im Berichtszeitraum aktiv an der Gender Based Violence (GBV)-Expert*innen-Gruppe teilgenommen (Details dazu siehe unter Punkt 2). Schwerpunkt war es, die Unternehmen des Textilbündnisses für die Bedarfe der Textilarbeiterinnen in der Lieferkette zu sensibilisieren, vor allem rund um das Thema Gender Equality. CARE arbeitet seit 20 Jahren in der textilen Lieferkette, mittlerweile in zehn Ländern und ist weiterhin offen für einen Knowledge-Transfer rund um die Themen Gender, Women in Leadership und Menschenrechte in der textilen Lieferkette. Finanziell beteiligt sich CARE an der Koordinierungsstelle der Zivilgesellschaft des Textilbündnis mit 5.000 EUR.

Vorstellung des STOP-Package von CARE und Austausch mit Mitgliedsunternehmen auf der Mitgliederversammlung 2019:

Sexuelle Belästigung am Arbeitsplatz ist ein wichtiges Thema, auch in der Textilindustrie. Es trifft vor allem Frauen, die die Mehrheit der Belegschaft in den Textilfabriken ausmachen. Das Fehlen von Beschwerden ist kein Beweis dafür, dass eine Lieferkette frei von Gender Based Violence ist. Fabriken müssen sicherstellen, dass sie über wirksame Systeme verfügen, die Meldungen ermöglichen und entsprechend darauf reagieren. Für globale Unternehmen kann es eine Herausforderung sein, hier effektive Maßnahmen zu ergreifen.

Das STOP-Package von CARE bietet Unterstützung bei der Prävention von sexueller Belästigung und stellt sicher, dass die Textilfabriken über wirksame Mechanismen am Arbeitsplatz verfügen, um auf sexuelle Belästigung zu reagieren. Erreicht wird dies u.a. durch die Unterstützung von CARE-Mitarbeitenden beim effektiven Einsatz des STOP-Package gegen sexuelle Belästigung in den Fabriken und dem Engagement der Mitarbeitenden der Textilfabrik, die sich, mit der Unterstützung von CARE, gegen sexuelle Belästigung aktiv einsetzen und Schulungen dafür durchführen und leiten. Infolgedessen, können die Arbeiter:innen in den Fabriken sicher und ohne negative Folgen Vorfälle und Beschwerden melden.

Die Gender-Expertise von CARE kann so zugeschnitten werden, dass sie auf die Bedarfe der Textilfabrik abgestimmt werden können, um die Gleichstellung der Geschlechter in allen Bereichen der Fabrik wirksam voranzutreiben. Darüber hinaus kön-nen u.a. auch Gender-Trainings für Beschaffungs- oder Compliance-Teams, Schulungen für Führungskräfte und HR Teams angeboten werden. Mit verschiedenen auf den Länderkontext abgestimmten Materialien sorgt CARE für maximale Wirk-samkeit.

Seit 2020 ist CARE aktives Mitglied in der GBV-Expert:innen-Gruppe. Neben gemeinsamen Webinaren mit dem Textilbündnis veranstaltete CARE auch eigene Webinare und stellte Reports rund um dieses Thema für die Mitgliedsunternehmen zur Verfügung, z. B.:

• The gendered impact of the COVID-19 crisis on garment workers: The Partnership for Sustainable Textiles (PST) working group on gender-based violence organized a joint discussion on the gendered impacts of the current COVID-19-crisis on garment workers. The objective of this discussion is to jointly assess the gendered effects of the current crisis on women garment workers and to learn about and discuss different responses to this crisis. CARE will share insights from their rapid gender assessment of the COVID-19 crisis in Bangladesh and Cambodia. Subse-quently, CARE and BSR will present their current and potential responses to the crisis.
• ELEVATE Strategic Partner webinar: Gender related risks in Asia’s supply chains: Latest insights into the dispropor-tionate impact that COVID-19 has had on women workers; Latest insights into gender issues in the supply chain such as wage inequality, lack of pregnancy protection, women’s participation in leadership and decision making, and sexual harassment; Evidence-based recommendations for effective interventions to identify and address gen-der-related supply chain risks
• CARE Norway released a report about gender equality in the supply chains: The report is made in collaboration with Virke, The Federation of Norwegian Enterprise, organizes and represents over 24,000 businesses: Gender equality in supply chains – A practical guide derived from the garment industry. The report provides an overview of how Norwegian companies currently address gender-related issues for workers in their supply chains, and dive in-to the garment industry to illustrate some of the most apparent challenges faced by women and how they can be solved. With the report, we present best-practices to inspire more companies to strengthen their efforts for SDG 5, Gender equality. The purpose is to present tools for Norwegian companies. However, the report also highlights our advocacy for ILO 190 and results achieved though the Made by Woman programs.
• COVID-19 Gender Rapid Analyses on garment worker in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia
• CARE’s Made by Women: Impact report 2020: The Made by Women strategy seeks to ensure women in the garment industry have access to decent jobs, are free from violence and harassment and can give voice to their rights at work. Engaging with women, businesses, governments and civil society partners across the supply chain, this area of work focuses on addressing some of the most fundamental barriers to women accessing their rights in the garment industry.

Industry we want

Building Forward: Creating a More Equitable, Gender-Just, Inclusive, and Sustainable World

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have undoubtedly been, and continue to be, terrible for individuals, communities, and countries. Yet the crisis provides the world with a unique opportunity, an opportunity to

build forward rather than back. The purpose of this report is to highlight how best this can be done, via a holistic approach to economic, environmental and humanitarian policies, and by putting women and girls at the centre of recovery and reform. Through a comprehensive process of listening and learning, including reviewing hundreds of resources, CARE has identified women’s economic justice and rights, green and gender-just recovery, and humanitarian response reforms as being key to building forward from COVID-19. Funding

the prevention and treatment of the pandemic in a gender-equitable manner will be a critical tool in taking this approach forward. We must build forward. Women’s Economic Justice and Rights (Paper Building Forward, page 15)

2.1 The world of work: accelerating access to dignified work for women (page 16)

2.2 Strengthening economic opportunities outside of waged employment: accelerating women’s entrepreneurship and financial inclusion (page 20)

2.3 Tackling barriers to women’s economic justice by addressing unpaid care and working towards universal social protection (page 23)

CARE Impact Partners:

VALUE-CHAINS: We help clients who seek more resilient, productive and responsible value-chains. We do this by diagnosing challenges; and then designing and delivering strategies & programming, based on deep insight into operational & human realities within their value-chains. 

EQUITY SOLUTIONS: We help clients develop comprehensive strategies to enable inclusion within their firms and supply-chains, and to reduce Gender-Based Violence, Sexual Harassment, Exploitation and Abuse.

IMPACT ADVISORY SERVICES: We help clients innovate to integrate gender equity across their social impact portfolios; to scale solutions and social ventures; and to document and tell their stories of social impact.

Gender Based Violence-Expert-Group

CARE wird weiterhin aktives Mitglied der GBV-Expert:innen Gruppe sein. Im kommenden Jahr ergänzt um das Fachwissen und Kapazität einer Gender Expertin von CARE Deutschland. Mitgliedsunternehmen des Textilbündnisses können bei Fragestellung rund um das Gender Justice Themen unterstützt werden: 

CARE International Safeguarding Policy: CARE places human dignity at the centre of its relief and development work. At the heart of CARE’s efforts to impact poverty and social justice is its engagement with marginalised communities. In CARE, we also recognise the particular responsibility we have to similarly promote human dignity and social justice within our own organisation and maintain a safe and respectful workplace. We recognise the importance of organisational culture and accountability in creating a safe and supportive organisation for our staff, our partners and the communities with whom we work.

At CARE, we believe all people have a right to live their lives free from sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, and that no child should be subjected to abuse of any form. We believe that sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse and child abuse, are more likely to be exerted over particular groups of people due to inequalities and vulnerabilities, particularly those experienced by women, vulnerable adults and children. We recognise that there is unequal power between CARE Employees and Related Personnel and the people we partner and work with throughout our programs, and also between people within our organisation. We expect that our power will not be used to advantage ourselves or cause harm to others.

CARE recognises we have a responsibility to protect people we work with, and who work for us, and we will continuously strive to prevent sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse and child abuse from happening. We take all reports of sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse and child abuse seriously. Our actions are informed by a survivor-centred approach which means that the needs and wishes of survivors guide our response, that survivors are treated with dignity and respect, and the rights of survivors to privacy and support are prioritised.

CARE has a zero-tolerance approach toward sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse and child abuse. We will carefully examine allegations and investigate, and take appropriate disciplinary action where this is needed, taking into consideration the rights and interests of the survivor, consistent with CARE’s survivor-centred approach. We make very clear that sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse and child abuse in any form, perpetrated by our staff, partners or other related personnel, towards anyone, will not be tolerated.

Geplante CARE Deutschland Projekte im Textilbereich

Project: Empowered women garment workers: Joint engagement of civil society, companies and governments for improved respect for the rights of women in the Mekong region

Project Partner: BMZ

Countries: Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam

Project Summary:

Project Objective: To support and empower civil society to strengthen the social accountability of business actors to workers and their organisations in the garment industry in order improve respect for the rights of women working in the garment industry

(One of several) Activities: Brands are the most powerful actors in global garment supply chains and can play a central role in the promotion of gender equality and worker’s rights. CARE is a member of the PST and has been active in the working group on gender. The project will facilitate an annual dialogue event between women leaders, partners, worker organisations and brand representatives – including in-country representatives. These events will be a forum through which women leaders and worker’s organizations can present their issues and concerns directly to brands to build shared understanding and action on gender equality in the supply chain.

Project: Strengthening the Economic Resilience of Female Garment Workers during COVID19 – Phase 2

Project partner: GIZ

Countries: Cambodia, Vietnam

Impact Group: The project will prioritise working with female garment workers who are socially and economically marginalised during the pandemic. This includes ex-garment workers who have lost their jobs/are suspended, those who are working but on reduced working hours and income and those in lockdown and quarantine.

Objective: To strengthen the economic resilience of female garment workers who are socially and economically marginalized in Cambodia and Vietnam to cope with the negative impacts of COVID-19.

Approach: CARE’s Gender Equality Framework guides all of our work and ensures that we work towards gender transformative outcomes for our participants. During the first phase of this project, CARE focused on building the agency of female garment workers – particularly knowledge and skills – to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this second, longer-term phase, CARE will scale out and deepen our work to build the agency of female workers during the pandemic, engage men and boys to change the gender relations in homes and communities that constrain women’s economic opportunities and decisions, and facilitate access to job and alternative livelihood opportunities for workers which can strengthen the economic resilience of themselves and their families.