ILO, International Trade Centre and Government of Lesotho team up to strengthen SME competitiveness, productivity and decent work
Driving investment and export growth in Lesotho’s textiles and clothing sector, this latest project incorporates SCORE Training as a key component.
3 April 2024
The ILO and the International Trade Centre (ITC) launched a new project on ‘Expanding Enterprise Participation in the Textile and Clothing Global Value Chain’ in collaboration with the Government of Lesotho. Part of a broader World Bank-funded ‘Competitiveness and Financial Inclusion (CAFI)’ programme in Lesotho, it aims to strengthen competitiveness of enterprises participating in the global textile and clothing (T&C) value chain and expand business opportunities through increased access to markets, productivity and decent work.
During the ongoing inception phase, the ILO and ITC are engaging with the Government, social partners and industry stakeholders at policy and sectoral levels, in addition to visiting Basotho- and foreign-owned factories to assess their key priorities and needs.
As a key component, the project will roll out ILO SCORE Training to design and implement factory-level measures to improve workplace cooperation, workforce management, occupational safety and health, resource efficiency and cleaner production, with a view to establishing a culture of quality assurance and continuous improvement. It will also help integrate local business support organizations (BSOs) into international networks through linkages between service providers and their foreign counterparts. It will also provide training and advisory services to T&C enterprises in response to their needs. This will be combined with interventions to improve up- and down-stream linkages in Lesotho’s textiles and clothing sector.
As next steps, the ILO and ITC will undertake a value chain mapping in the T&C sector to further analyse the relevant BSOs and enterprises constraints, and examine the sector’s structural and institutional set-up. Moreover, the project will also conduct a trade flow analysis and scoping of the leather and footwear sector to examine market demand and requirements as well as the profile and performance of enterprises to identify possible areas of interventions.
Explore the Competitiveness and Financial Inclusion (CAFI) programme in Lesotho here. Learn more about ILO’s work on SME productivity and SCORE Training on our website. Information on ITC’s Global Textiles and Clothing Programme (GTEX) is available here.
During the ongoing inception phase, the ILO and ITC are engaging with the Government, social partners and industry stakeholders at policy and sectoral levels, in addition to visiting Basotho- and foreign-owned factories to assess their key priorities and needs.
As a key component, the project will roll out ILO SCORE Training to design and implement factory-level measures to improve workplace cooperation, workforce management, occupational safety and health, resource efficiency and cleaner production, with a view to establishing a culture of quality assurance and continuous improvement. It will also help integrate local business support organizations (BSOs) into international networks through linkages between service providers and their foreign counterparts. It will also provide training and advisory services to T&C enterprises in response to their needs. This will be combined with interventions to improve up- and down-stream linkages in Lesotho’s textiles and clothing sector.
As next steps, the ILO and ITC will undertake a value chain mapping in the T&C sector to further analyse the relevant BSOs and enterprises constraints, and examine the sector’s structural and institutional set-up. Moreover, the project will also conduct a trade flow analysis and scoping of the leather and footwear sector to examine market demand and requirements as well as the profile and performance of enterprises to identify possible areas of interventions.
Explore the Competitiveness and Financial Inclusion (CAFI) programme in Lesotho here. Learn more about ILO’s work on SME productivity and SCORE Training on our website. Information on ITC’s Global Textiles and Clothing Programme (GTEX) is available here.