Caroline Bates is Chief Technical Advisor for Better Work Pakistan. She joined Better Work in January 2022, having previously worked with the ILO Country Office in Islamabad, Pakistan, from 2015.

Caroline has supported a number of technical cooperation projects working with Pakistan’s textile and ready-made garment industry, most recently as the Project Manager of the EU-funded International Labour and Environmental Standards project.

She began her career in the UK as a lawyer, specialising in human rights, employment law and discrimination. Caroline has worked in both private practice and with trade unions. She has a degree in Law and a master’s degree in International Human Rights and Islamic Law. She moved to Pakistan in 2008 and has also lived and worked in Nepal. Her main areas of interest are research, gender, and freedom of association and collective bargaining. She works on these areas to support the work of the government and constituents in her role managing the Better Work Pakistan programme.