Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-As part of its ongoing efforts to empower workers and improve the safety of ready-made garment (RMG) factories in Bangladesh, The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (the Alliance) announced this week that its executive director, former US Ambassador to Bangladesh James F. Moriarty, will serve as country director.
In this new role, he will lead strategic oversight and outreach activities with key stakeholders in Bangladesh's government, garment industry, and non-governmental and nonprofit organizations, reports the fibre2fashion.
“As our operations team continues to work to empower factory workers and owners, we saw an opportunity to increase our engagement with key stakeholders and focus on long-term sustainability,” said the Honorable Ellen Tauscher, independent chair of the Alliance.
“We're thrilled to have Ambassador Moriarty on board in this expanded leadership role. He is extremely qualified and has a deep commitment to our mission and the garment workers of Bangladesh.”
With safety inspections completed in 100 per cent of Alliance factories, 1.2 million workers trained in fire safety at least one time, and 50 per cent of factory repairs now complete, the Alliance identified an opportunity to direct additional attention toward long-term sustainability of the progress made by the Alliance, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, manufacturers and the government to strengthen the infrastructure of the RMG industry, it said on its website.
As Country Director, Ambassador Moriarty will spend more time in Bangladesh working with these partners to support the Bangladesh government and industry to sustain and expand the reach of garment factory improvements after the Alliance comes to a close in 2018.
Ambassador Moriarty comes aboard as Managing Director Rabin Mesbah transitions to lead the Building and Fire Safety Division of Elevate (www.elevatelimited.com), the management firm responsible for designing, managing and executing all Alliance remediation and training efforts in Bangladesh.
“Under Mr Mesbah's leadership, we've made considerable progress in the past two and a half years, and I'm looking forward to having even more active engagement with key stakeholders to help us achieve our shared vision of a safer RMG industry for Bangladeshi workers,” said Ambassador Moriarty.
“I am confident that together, we can catalyze progress toward our goal of ensuring that Bangladesh's garment factories and workers remain safe after 2018, and I'm proud to help chart the course on this effort.”
Mesbah added, “I am proud of the work that we have done over the last two and a half years of the Alliance. I now look forward to taking the learnings and experiences from the Alliance to other countries and other industries as I support the work of Elevate globally.”
BBN/SK/AD