Health training and clinic strengthening are the two mechanisms used for implementing the program. It built up capacities of the workers in the factory to be aware of health priorities and promote their wellness through training and behaviour change, at the same time partnering with local professional health organizations to strengthen the factory clinics.

 

One of the key improvements of the program is the health training facilitated by the selected health facilitators at each factory. 5 health facilitators from each factory attended a week-long training by Swasti on training skills, they were taught to use the personal skill they have to assist them to facilitate the training, including singing, sports games, role play and drawing…etc. The training covered 3 main primary health care areas including basics of health and nutrition, stress and time management, as well as communication skills. Each factory then organized a 90 minutes session on each model for the workers, each session covers 25 workers from different departments. By the end of the program period, the Health Facilitators had trained 10,760 workers across the factories of Nien Hsing.

 

Ms Ntaoneng, one of the female employees from sewing department, thinks that after the I4We health training, she has witnessed a remarkable change in health awareness among her peers. She happily stated that they are more aware of their health and environment and said, “Workers, particularly women are more aware of occupational health and menstrual hygiene. Workers who have been trained are sharing lessons learned and key messages with their families and community.”

 

Limitations to access to medical resources is a major issue in Lesotho, workers can spend up to 2 days or more lining to see a clinic doctor, and the expenses are unaffordable for most of them. The Company sees the health of workers as the most valuable asset for a company, by increasing the health status and wellbeing of workers, we are able to improve productivity and create a better working environment. Therefore, part of the I4We programme is to strengthen the clinic infrastructure and services.

 

With assistant from the partner health specialist Lesotho Boston Health Alliance (LeBoHA), Nien Hsing team conducted regular clinic assessments at each factory, offering necessary medical supplies such as first aid equipment, medicines and professional advice. Moreover, the clinic staff were trained on imparting health awareness to the workforce, with the support from factory management ensuring consultations and necessary screening for health conditions to employees were offered.

 

Dr Nelly, one of our clinic doctors said that “Earlier the clinic only provided services for people living with HIV; it has moved from an AIDS-only clinic to a primary care clinic that provides all services since the i4We program. Workers are more willing to approach the clinic now as compared to earlier. During the pandemic, workers continued to access the clinic services.”

 

For the final report and achievements on the Program please visit our website, Nien Hsing will carry on safeguarding and promoting the well-being and health of our employees, the ultimate goal is to strengthen our internal resources and network to drive and sustain workers health and wellbeing.  

The Minister of Labour and Employment Mrs Rantso applauded the actions taken by Nien Hsing after visiting the factories and emphasis that they would use it as the model, and share the Nien Hsing experience to other factories in the sector that are waiting for approval to re-open. Textile and garment industry contributes to the majority workforce in Lesotho, it is highly important to put the health and safety of the frontline employees as the first priority for most sections involve frequent contact and high population density at each station.

“We are in this together, although Nien Hsing is facing one of its greatest challenges and our factories across the globe are suffering like all other enterprises, we have to put the benefit of our frontline workers as the priority, and we are hoping for the better to come”, said Felipe Fang, the Regional Director of Mexico and Lesotho. As an employer runs 8 factories across the globe including Lesotho, Mexico, Vietnam and Taiwan, the Group is prepared for the unpredictable and hope for the better!

The 17-month program is implemented by the team consists of factory Nurse, Welfare/HR and Peer Facilitators. The biggest step of the program will be strengthening factory clinic with stronger policies, guidelines, protocols to address the health issues of the workers. Apart from mapping of health services and linkages with service providers, basic health screening, treatment and follow-up support for all the workers through health camps in the factory will be implemented in the program. By developing peer educators on health, the program will enhance the knowledge among female workers on menstrual health and hygiene.

For personal wellbeing of the workers, workers will be ensured to have access to clean water, air quality and ergonomics, as well as hygiene in the toilets and ensure provision of hand hygiene products. Finally, factory systems will be developed to measure the impact of the i4We program, including planning regular review meetings to track progress, challenges and learning from the program and document them in the prescribed reporting formats.

Almost 45% of our workers have been trained in the program and have received positive feedbacks. Ramabanta Ramateneng, who has been in NH for almost 13 years shared his observation on the impact of the program and said,”The employees are starting to pay greater attention on hygiene and safety at work place. Not only the ones who has been trained, are they making positive influence on other workers too.” He also noticed that employees are using the PPEs properly and most importantly, they understand the importance of washing hands properly and incidents caused by improper hygiene such as diarrhea has gone down; the production and efficiency has obviously gone up, and it is great he could apply the methods and the activities he learned from the training to teach his family and members of the community.