Background

Better Work is a partnership programme of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) established in 2007. Its objective is to improve labour standards and promote competitiveness in global supply chains in developing countries. The focus is on long-term sustainable solutions which build cooperation between government, employers’ and workers’ organizations, and international buyers. Better Work consists of seven country programmes. Better Work Jordan has operated since 2008.

International migrants, mostly from South Asia, constitute the majority of the apparel sector workforce in Jordan today. Much of the industry’s success in the country is based upon a business model that relies on the relatively lower wages and long working hours migrant labourers are willing to accept (and in the case of wages, employers are permitted by law to offer). At the same time, one-third of the sector’s workforce are Jordanian, predominantly women, who often are recruited to work in “satellite” factories in rural regions. These satellite factories are counterpart to factories located in Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZs).

Better Workhas conducted impact assessment research in Jordan to determine the causal relationship between project interventions and enterprise level changes in labour standards and economic performance, benefits to workers in the form of higher wages, skill acquisition, access to health care and personal aspirations and broader social goals of poverty alleviation, educational attainment, access to health care, microenterprise development and export promotion. Better Work has collaborated with research partners from 2010 to 2016 to collect micro data in five countries from workers, managers and supervisors in garment factories. Data collected through the impact assessment project, paired with BW’s compliance assessment data and matched by unique factory IDs, have enabled analysis on the link between working conditions and worker well-being, firm competitiveness, and the unique contribution of observed changes attributed to Better Work service provision. Increasingly, tools and research strategies are under development to expand BW’s research agenda to understand the programme’s spillover effects to life conditions outside the factory.

In 2019, Better Work Jordan re-launched survey efforts to better understand the opinions and situation or workers in the Jordanian garment industry. Five rounds of data collection have been conducted since 2019, with roughly 1,500 workers surveyed in each round. A new, random sample of workers is chosen each year, comprising roughly 2% of workers in the sector. A managers’ survey has also been implemented in parallel with one manager in each factory surveyed. In 2021, a supervisors’ survey was introduced covering roughly 7% of supervisors in the sector.

The data collection carried out as part of this assignment will contribute to efforts to continue to measure the impact of the Better Work Jordan programme. They will also be used to provide data and evidence for policy makers and key stakeholders in the garment industry.

The Objective from Terms of Reference is to Continue consistent and high-quality data collection in Better Work Jordan participating factories by surveying workers, supervisors, and managers.

Please download Full Terms of Reference

If you have more questions that can help you build your proposal more efficiently, please share them with us on the same email address by May 24,2024. All questions received will be answered “anonymously” and published on our website www.betterwork.org by May 31,2024.