Strengthening mental health support for ready-made garments workers in Bangladesh
Why this is important
Mental health issues are a growing concern in Bangladesh where approximately 17% of the population is experiencing some form of related distress. Despite the prevalence of the issue, only about 0.5% of the total health budget is allocated to mental health. Moreover, stigma, discrimination, and misconceptions surrounding mental health are extremely high, which only exacerbate the problem.
A prevalence of mental health issues among Bangladeshi garment workers, especially women, is a significant concern. Female workers account for 80% of the ready-made garments (RMG) workforce. Research suggests that female workers experience mental distress such as stress, anxiety, restlessness, and thoughts of suicide due to the combination of engaging in paid work, responsibility for childcare and their role in their family and community. This, combined with the dearth of mental health provisions, has created a crisis.
Project Partners: Primark, Sajida Foundation
Duration: 2025-2027
Project goals
Embedding mental health support in the workplace
Establish accessible, workplace-based mental health support systems across five RMG factories, reaching 4,500 workers—predominantly women—and making support available closer to where workers live and work.
Building a sustainable support network
Train 75 workplace-based lay counsellors to provide peer-level support, promote early help-seeking, and strengthen each factory’s ability to respond to workers’ mental health needs.
Creating lasting change beyond the project
Develop and embed practical sustainability and management mechanisms within each factory so that mental health support can continue beyond the project cycle and become part of the workplace environment.
Generating evidence for scale and systems change
Undertake an independent impact assessment to measure outcomes, capture learning, and generate evidence that can shape future programme design, strengthen policy engagement, and inform opportunities for scale in the next phase.
What we are doing
Building on learning
Building on the learning from Phase 1, British Asian Trust is strengthening Moner Kotha Phase 2 with a stronger focus on sustainability and embedding mental health support within workplaces.
Bringing support closer to workers
Across five factories, the programme will reach workers through direct mental health interventions and services. Key workers will be trained as lay counsellors to provide peer support, while awareness sessions will help workers recognize mental health concerns, understand when to seek support, and reduce stigma.
Creating sustainable workplace systems
The programme will also introduce telecounselling to improve access to professional support, while equipping factory management with practical approaches to sustain mental health services beyond the project cycle.
Creating healthier workplaces
Together, these interventions aim to strengthen workers’ mental health and well-being, encourage early access to support, and create healthier, more supportive working environments that can continue beyond the life of the programme.
Key activities of the project include:
- Identification and Training selected factory personnel as para-counsellors (including MHFA Training)
- Hosting awareness sessions for workers on mental health, well-being and self-care.
- Facilitating individual para-counselling sessions for symptomatic workers.
- Factory senior management training on Mental health and sustainability of the project
- HR Personnel orientation and training for new workers onboarding on Mental Health and services within factory premises
- Independent impact analysis for project impact analysis and model gaps and adaptations.
- Establishing referral systems for critical cases including tele-counselling services.
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