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In Cambodia, women make up 85 percent of the total workforce in the garment sector. The lower-skilled roles are often occupied by women with lower educational attainment and from rural areas, who remain underrepresented in management and supervisory roles. To promote women’s leadership in the garment sector, female garment workers must be supported and empowered to hold supervisory roles.

Factory Literary Programme (FLP-SkillsFuture), implemented by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and UNESCO since 2016, with financial support from UNESCO’s Capacity Development for Education

(CapED) Programme and the Malala Fund for Girls’ Right to Education, supports young women and girls working in factories by equipping them with literacy, numeracy and critical thinking skills, while empowering them to better understand their rights at work and improve their work performance and communication.

Since its launch, more than 2,500 workers (95% women) have been benefitted from FLP-SkillsFuture. Learners who pass the exam across all 25 participating factories in ten provinces will receive a certificate of completion equivalent to Grade 4 or 6 to pursue further education at formal or non-formal education institutions.

Workers who completed the programme have reported a higher level of self-confidence, better understanding of their employment contracts and rights at work, and more effective communication skills. Workers have also been observed to demonstrate a better understanding of how to operate machinery autonomously, make fewer mistakes at work and communicate more effectively with their co-workers, thereby contributing to improved productivity at the factories.

FLP is the only public-private partnership of its scale in education, receiving strong support from private sector partners. With UNESCO’s support, the MoEYS has forged a successful partnership with the industry body Textile, Apparel, Footwear & Travel Goods Association in Cambodia (TAFTAC), which has contributed to the increased number of participating factories and the expansion of FLP, as well as to provide tailored upskilling courses to the garment factory workers. Participating garment factories provide both in-kind and financial support to support the implementation of FLP.

The Factory Literacy Programme (FLP-SkillsFuture) is part of the second phase of the Decent Employment for Youth in Cambodia (DEY), a joint UN programme supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and UNESCO, in synergy with UNESCO’s Capacity Development for Education (CapED) programme. Since its launch, more than 2,500 workers (95% of which were women) have benefitted from the programme.