The garment industry is a backbone of the Cambodian economy, responsible for at least 770,000 jobs and roughly 10% of the country’s GDP. However, the growth of the sector has resulted in the sizable use of natural resources and resulted in negative impacts on Cambodia’s environment.

Efforts to mainstream environmental sustainability have been affected by factories’ limited understanding of sustainability and the challenges of meeting buyer and government requirements.

The project was established with an aim of creating more green jobs in the garment sector in Cambodia. This has resulted in the establishment of an Advanced Diploma in Energy and Environmental Sustainability (ADEES) course that contribute to upskilling of existing garment factory employees and new jobs placements to fresh graduates.

The goal of the project was to improve the sustainability performance and increased production efficiency of garment manufacturing industries in Cambodia. The project aimed to:

– Develop skillset/curriculum related to sustainable sourcing in the garment factories in Cambodia.

– Establish a nationally accredited Advanced Diploma course on environmental sustainability.

– Foster upskilling in existing garment factories and ensuring long-term job placement opportunities for graduates of the Advanced Diploma program.

9 direct jobs were created, and 46 individuals were upskilled during the first batch. The program aims to train 50 people each year.

The garment industry is a key pillar of the Cambodian economy. However, the COVID-19 pandemic severely affected the sector. In 2020, the garment industry experienced negative growth of 6.7%, leading to the closure of approximately 110 garment factories and loss of employment for more than 55,000 workers. The garment industry is and will continue to be Cambodia’s key economic pillar for the foreseeable future. The industry’s constant expansion will contribute to greater adverse environmental effects while also helping Cambodia’s economy grow. It will take more human resources to work together to decouple economic growth from adverse environmental impact. It is widely acknowledged that this decade’s primary duty is to address this issue.

Therefore, the project was designed to deliver a set of outputs with an intended outcome of creating more green jobs in the manufacturing sector of Cambodia. Intended project outputs included developing an advanced diploma course on the environmental sustainability, recruiting full-time and part-time students, developing training materials, delivering the training, and ensure long-term job placement. This advanced diploma program assists the Cambodian industrial sector to develop future leaders to combat climate change.

The project designed a 63-credit training program on environmental sustainability, entitled the Advanced Diploma in Energy and Environmental Sustainability (ADEES) course. The course was accredited by the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MoLVT). GGGI, Geres, TAFTAC, and CGTI collaborated to develop training materials that primarily addressed energy, water, chemical, and waste management, as well as other soft skills like computer proficiency and leadership. A total of 55 students were recruited comprising 9 full-time and 46 part-time students (employed by garment factories). After the completion of a hands-on apprenticeship program, all 9 full-time students were successfully placed for full-time jobs in different factories. The 46 current factory employees attended the part-time course for 10 months mostly online. CGTI will keep offering the ADEES course as part of their core training program.