Evaluation Learnings Search

Learning Description

Absenteeism and staff turnover are ongoing concerns for employers. Factory leadership indicated sustained rates have impeded and will continue to impeded the Better Work Ethiopia project's success. It is important to acknowledge these challenges when designing project training and to collaborate with employers to mitigate these issues.

Learning Description

The Better Work Ethiopia project should engage more directly in monitoring how allegations of sexual harassment are investigated and resolved. The current approaches used by some managers and workers’ representatives in responding to sexual harassment charges may not be addressing the underlying dynamics.

Learning Description

Factory managers need to be convinced of the value proposition of what the Better Work Ethiopia project is doing. This extends not only to support for labor unions, but also to ensure that the Better Work Ethiopia project participants do not face backlash in the workplace for speaking up for their rights.

Learning Description

Bringing people from different organizations together for training or to work on specific products greatly contributed to improving coordination. This was more effective than just forming coordinating committees.

Learning Description

Training/sensitization: The training and sensitization activities have largely been successful in building knowledge. Interviews suggested that the training approach was participatory and utilized specific issues and cases from the Ghanaian contexts, which enabled understanding

Learning Description

Broadened consultation: Project implementers engaged a wide range of stakeholders whose mandates, roles, and responsibilities include direct and distant monitoring, awareness raising, reporting, or minimizing labor violation issues in Ghana. This practice has made it possible for the project to target almost all relevant actors who really need capacity building on forced labor indicators—which is the ultimate objective of the project

Learning Description

Maintaining positive relationships and interactions with key and ‘relevant’ stakeholders: Beyond the broad consultation, Verité also pursued a practice of maintaining positive relationships and interactions with key stakeholders, including frequent bilateral conversations with the Project Director via phone, text, and in-person updates. Based on this approach, key stakeholders participated in the design of the monitoring and evaluation plan, piloting of the field survey, and sharing of some project information with other key stakeholders

Learning Description

Aligning project activities to existing protocols, tasks, and activities of key stakeholders: Another good practice of the project was that it aligned its objectives with existing protocols and activities of key stakeholders, rather than reinventing the wheel. This improved targeted stakeholders’ acceptance of, support for, and willingness to participate in the project

Learning Description

Formation of the Technical Working Group (TWG): The formation of the Technical Working Group has been a useful practice as far as the project is concerned. Membership is comprised of different institutions who bring diverse knowledge, experiences, and ideas to shape the direction and implementation of the project. Additionally, the TWG serves as an important platform for enhancing sustainability of the outcomes and gains within and beyond the lifespan of the project.

Learning Description

Circulation of a newsletter and project updates to a wider group: Stakeholders have been highly impressed about Verité’s initiation of a newsletter to provide project updates to a wider group of stakeholders. This practice needs to be continued.