Frequently Asked Questions

HERproject, or Health Enables Returns, is a BSR initiative that catalyzes partnerships among international brand-name companies, suppliers, and NGOs to implement women’s health programs in factories around the world.

These factory-based programs are centered on the provision of critical health information and services to increase female factory workers’ general and reproductive health.

HERproject provides health trainings using a peer-education methodology to increase access to information and improve existing factory clinic resources.

A leader in corporate responsibility since 1992, BSR works with its global network of nearly 300 member companies to develop sustainable business strategies and solutions through consulting, research, and cross-sector collaboration. With offices in Asia, Europe, and North and South America, BSR uses its expertise in the environment, human rights, economic development, and governance and accountability to guide global companies toward creating a just and sustainable world.

BSR created HERproject in 2007 to address a need for women’s health education partnerships in the manufacturing sector.

Today, BSR designs and oversees all of HERproject’s global activities, and it links multinational companies and their factories to local NGOs. BSR selects and manages local implementing-partner relationships, and conducts advocacy and communication in support of the program and women’s health education.

BSR believes that investing in women is good not only for communities and sustainable development, but also for business.

In fulfilling our mission of building a just and sustainable world, we believe that the world’s women will be critical partners to us, and to our member companies.

Supporting women’s health in global supply chains is part of the puzzle, and an issue on which BSR is proud to demonstrate leadership.

The program is primarily focused on providing general and reproductive health information to women.

In China, male workers have participated in some factory programs, and in Vietnam, male workers are invited to large group lectures.

In Pakistan, a curriculum on general health, safe sex, and women’s reproductive health has been developed for male workers because of a higher percentage of male workers in that country as well as a significant need for the information among both male and female workers.

HERproject is currently implemented in factories making apparel, footwear, accessories, and home goods. HERproject is also active in cut-flower farms and food-processing plants.

Our program model can be implemented in most worksites with more than 500 workers, a high majority of permanent female workers, and high levels of interaction between workers throughout the working day and during breaks.

At any given time, HERproject is active in approximately 50 factories and farms. As of December 2011, HERproject implementation has been completed in 82 factories.

Sponsorships to implement HERproject range from US$5,000 to US$7,000 per factory per year, and are given directly to the local HERproject partner.

HERproject is typically implemented over a 12 to 18 month period, during which BSR’s local partners work with factory management to develop the needs assessment, tailor the trainings to meet local needs, and enable the peer educators to conduct a series of trainings for factory staff.

BSR’s local NGO partners deliver the trainings in the factories. BSR works with each partner to build their capacity to implement effective workplace health education programs, and BSR benefits from our partners’ knowledge of the local context and traditions. Furthermore, these trainings delivered by local partner staff increases the credibility of the curriculum with the female factory workers.

Our implementing partners can be found listed by country on the HERproject Map.

BSR’s locally based implementing partners in each HERproject country conduct the trainings inside the factory on 10 core women’s health topics.

HERproject uses a peer education methodology, whereby a group of female workers are identified to serve as educators to their peers and are provided with approximately 16 to 20 hours of training spread over 12 months.

The peer educators are then expected to provide formal and informal trainings throughout the project period to their peers. Peer educators have access to regular check-ins for knowledge refreshment throughout the year.

HERproject has found that our peer health education model is an efficient and cost-effective way to reach a large and vulnerable population of women.

HERproject always engages factory management and factory clinic staff as critical partners in program success. In partnership with local partner organizations, the HERproject curriculum is used in a varying degree in each factory depending on local cultural contexts and factory workers’ needs.

Local partners work with factory management to select the peer educators. The role of peer educator also serves as a form of empowerment for women by instilling in each a sense of pride, confidence, and leadership.

Companies provide access to factories, cover initial implementation costs, and enable program replication and expansion. They play a crucial role in bringing their supplier factories on board and demonstrating the importance of worker-health programs. Companies benefit from subsidized participation in a quality-controlled program.

Factories provide access to workers and support worker participation and clinic improvements. Factory management is crucial to creating a safe and open environment that is conducive to education and empowering women. Factories benefit from workers who are absent less, more productive, and less likely to leave.

The peer education methodology helps enable program sustainability so that factory workers take ownership of the training materials. Most factories have existing clinics, where nurses or other health care staff assume a management role as the project progresses, so that the factory can easily maintain activities after the HERproject implementation period is over.

Since HERproject was started in 2007, the program has reached more than 120,000 female workers and more than 25,000 males in factories around the world. However, the impact is far greater, as an average 80 percent of workers report sharing the health information they’ve learned outside the factory walls—in their homes, places of worship, and communities.

Many female workers in HERproject factories represent vulnerable populations. They are often young and undereducated migrants who move from rural areas to cities in search of work.

Low-wage female factory workers often suffer from anemia, poor hygiene, inadequate pre- and post-natal care, sexual violence, and exposure to infections and illness. Lack of education and access to resources contribute to unsafe sexual behaviors, sometimes leading to unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted infections. These circumstances lower women’s quality of life and inhibit their ability to provide for their families. They also contribute to high rates of malnutrition, maternal and infant mortality, and the spread of sexually transmitted and other preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and tuberculosis. You can read more about our findings on the health of female factory workers on our resources page.

Preventable conditions or diseases severely impact workers’ quality of life and greatly reduce productivity while increasing the likelihood of health-related absenteeism. Health problems among staff also have negative impacts on attrition, concentration, and energy levels.

HERproject strives to improve the connections to existing health services, through referrals, site visits, and service-provision partnerships with public and private health providers.

We also work with our participating factories to improve the abilities of their onsite health staff, including both nurses and doctors, to provide additional counseling and services to workers.