"Made-in-Cambodia"

"Made-in-Cambodia"
Launching a Nation-Wide Fashion Competition of Cambodian Garment Workers

The second edition of the competition entitled "I am precious" will be launched on Wednesday, 15 July 2009 at 09:00AM at ILO Better Factories Cambodia office. The campaign is to promote Cambodian garment workers, value the work they do, and enable them to show their talents through a dress and T-shirt design competition.

The "I am precious" campaign is a joint event under a collaboration of Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA), Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MoLVT), ILO Better Factories Cambodia (ILO BFC), Garment Manufacturers' Association in Cambodia (GMAC), Garment Industry Productivity Center (GIPC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Unions and Precious Girl Magazine.

The competition aims to promote self value of garment workers by increasing awareness of their work, abilities and skills and encouraging them to realize their potential, to showcase that there are rewarding careers in the industry, and to broaden garment workers opportunities to career growth while contributing to industry's growth and to the economic and social development of Cambodia. Moreover, the campaign hopes to give the industry a positive image globally through international brands involvement.

While the competition will function as the entertaining key feature of the event, the campaign will also highlight elements such as information about career opportunities in the fashion industry, awareness of the industry and the supply chain, feature stories about young workers and management who have "made it" in the industry and messages about the industry evolution and future prospect.

The garment industry continues to be the industrial locomotive of Cambodia. It employs directly around 300,000 people in the production with approximately 30,000 people in managerial jobs. The impact of the industry as a contractor to other sectors such as transport, cardboard making, food suppliers etc. is manifold. Even with a conservative estimate the industry touches upon and contributes to over 1.7 million Cambodian lives on an every day basis through remittances to the country side and through direct economic activity.

All workers from garment factories are eligible to submit their dress and t-shirt designs until September 14, 2009. The campaign will culminate by a final show to be held in November 2009. During the final event, the best designs will be displayed in a run-way fashion show. The winners will be selected by representatives of the Cambodia's garment industry stakeholders.
During the launching of the campaign, on July 15th at 9:00 AM on the agenda are speeches from key industry partners, screening of a short documentary "I am Precious 2007," and photo opportunity with Tuk-Tuks and Cyclos carrying this year's message "Made-in-Cambodia."

For more information and media related questions, please contact:
Mr. Ny You
Communications Officer
Email: you@ilo.org
Tel: 012 373 877