Better Work Jordan: Our programme

Since 2009, Better Work Jordan has joined forces with workers, employers and the government to improve living and working conditions and boost the competitiveness of the garment industry.

Today, Jordan’s garment industry accounts for 23 per cent of the country’s exports, with a value exceeding USD1.9 billion in 2019, almost double the USD 700 million recorded in 2007.

Enrolment in the programme is mandatory for garment factories and subcontractors exporting to the US and Israel, and for eligible manufacturing enterprises in the chemicals, plastics and engineering sectors. Garment factories exporting to the EU market under the relaxed rules of origin (RoO) are also enrolled with Better Work Jordan.

As of March 2020, factories have enrolled in the programme: 49 direct exporters, 22 subcontractors and 22 satellites units, 4 non-garment factories.   Most apparel factories are situated in the 13 Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZs), the three largest being located in ad-Dulyal, Sahab and outside the country’s second-largest city of Irbid.  Around 75 per cent of the workforce is comprised of migrant workers, most of whom are from South and South-East Asia.

In 2019, Better Work Jordan launched a four-year gender strategy to amplify its work to provide gender-responsive services and to more actively promote gender equality.  The strategy is structured around four key themes – Discrimination, Paid Work & Care, Voice & Representation and Leadership & Skills Development – under which Better Work Jordan will work towards specific goals.

Better Work Jordan, at the request of the Government of Jordan, started operations in 2009.  Since then, it has been influential in a number of significant changes within the apparel industry.

In 2013, BWJ helped local stakeholders create the unified contract (one valid across borders) for migrant workers in the garment sector. The contract is a breakthrough for Jordan and still constitutes one of the most comprehensive of its kind in the region and, in the apparel sector, worldwide.  In 2015 steps toward its implementation were taken with Jordan’s main apparel employer associations and the country’s garment union signing the guidelines for its implementation under the supervision of BWJ.

BWJ is also working to improve access to Jordan’s job market for Syrian refugees.  Since the start of the crisis in Syria, about 650,000 Syrians have taken refuge in Jordan, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), though the government of Jordan reports 1.4 million Syrians currently living in the country.   

Read more about Better Work Jordan’s achievements including support for refugees

In 2016, another milestone was reached by the sector: the United States Department of Labor removed the garment sector from their forced labour listing, acknowledging BWJ’s efforts in bringing about this progress.

See Jordan’s garment sector removed from US forced labour listing

Our impact

Since its inception, Better Work Jordan has engaged workers, employers, the government and multinational businesses to transform the garment industry.

Key developments include:

Strengthened collective bargaining. The programme played a critical role supporting the negotiation and eventual signing in 2013 of a two-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that covers the entire garment sector. Since then, the CBA has been updated and strengthened every two years, showcasing an increased maturity in industrial relations at the sectoral level.

Creation of a unified contract (2013).  Better Work Jordan supported the development a unified contract addressing the issue of migrant garment workers signing multiple contracts in their home country and then signing different ones when they arrive in Jordan. In 2016, the contract was expanded to cover Syrian refugees.  In a related development, since January of this year, the programme reports factories as non-compliant if workers paid any recruitment fees.

Removal of the Jordanian garment industry from its forced labour listing by the United States Department of Labor in 2016, which acknowledged Better Work Jordan’s efforts in bringing about this progress. See Jordan’s garment sector removed from US forced labour listing

Establishment of the Workers’ Centre in Al Hassan Industrial Zone. The Centre, which opened in February 2014, provides a neutral and friendly environment for activities that are intended to benefit workers. Read more about Better Work Jordan’s achievements including support for refugees Workers’ Centre.

Expansion to new sectors. In 2019 inspection guidelines for factories eligible to export to the EU market under the relaxed rules of origin (RoO) were released.  This marked the first steps for the programme to work beyond the garment sector and provide its services to three additional manufacturing industries: chemicals, plastics and engineering.

To learn more about key achievements of Better Work Jordan during its decade-long operation, please follow this link.

And for more on the history of the garment sector in Jordan, its near collapse and subsequent revival spearheaded by the ILO and IFC, read  “The Jordanian Garment Industry and Better Work”, a Better Work discussion paper.

Better Work Jordan At a Glance