Garment Workers’ Center in the Al-Hassan Industrial Zone in Jordan
Semester
With the opening of the Workers’ Center in Al-Hassan Industrial Zone in 2014, Better Work Jordan took an important step towards creating an inclusive environment that humanizes the Zone by providing important educational and recreational services heretofore unseen in Jordan. The final report presents data collected by the SIPA Capstone team over the period of 10 days in Al-Hassan for the purpose of conducting a baseline evaluation of the Center. The evaluation sought to examine the following five areas:
- Impact of the Workers’ Center on the lifestyle of the workers in the Al-Hassan industrial zone
- Services that the workers would like the Center to offer
- Utilization levels of the Workers’ Center’s current service offerings
- Workers’ ratings of current Center services
- Willingness of the workers to participate in the management/operation of the Workers’ Center
The SIPA team designed and deployed worker surveys as the main mode of data collection, supplemented by qualitative evidence culled from focus groups conducted with workers organized by gender and country of origin. Though some adjustment in survey deployment and focus group methods had to occur, the team feels confident that their results are representative of workers’ needs and first impressions of the Workers’ Center.
Several recommendations were made to help Better Work Jordan and the Workers’ Center Association better understand the needs and desires of the workers using the Center, including ways in which to increase worker use of space and services. Recommendations included increasing class offerings; ensuring that courses provide final certificates of completion; improving the marketing of the Workers’ Center; increasing union presence at the Center; offering courses on the garment industry; creating mechanisms that would allow worker participation in Center governance; implementing periodic surveys and sign-in sheets to monitor worker traffic and service preferences; and to improve staff linguistic capabilities.
The construction of the Workers’ Center is a significant step in achieving Better Work Jordan’s goal of improving the lives of workers employed in Jordan’s garment export sector. With the information provided by this evaluation report, Better Work in tandem with the ILO and partner organizations should be able to identify service areas that most need improvement and make the appropriate changes. Ensuring that the Workers’ Center remains a dynamic space that can shift to serve the workers’ changing needs is critical to its survival in both the short- and long-run.