In 2018, the DWR Project launched Decent Work Regulation in Africa (DWR-Africa). The Project was centred on effective regulatory strategies for decent work in the in southern Africa, with a particular focus on the garment sector.
Funded by Durham University (UK) through the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)/Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), the Project was a collaboration between Durham University (UK), the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and York University (Canada).
DWR-Africa established a regional network of researchers and stakeholders in southern Africa, held a regional meeting that agreed a set of findings, and issued a report on challenges to labour law enforcement in the region. The project also produced Rethabile's Story, a short film on daily life in the Lesotho garment factories.
A related project on Law’s Dynamic Effects: South Africa is investigating the influence of labour law on working relationships that are considered ‘informal.’
A Regional Meeting was held at the University of Cape Town on 18 June 2018. The event brought together participants from the region and international partners. It provided the opportunity for a regional dialogue on regulatory strategies to achieve decent work in the African context, with a focus on enforcement of labour laws in the garment sector.
A video series - Voices from Southern Africa - explores the experience of our policy partners in advocating for decent work.
The Regional Meeting supported a cross-country dialogue on regulatory strategies that can achieve decent work in the African context, with a focus on enforcement of labour laws in the garment sector.
The Meeting agreed a set of Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation in Africa that are a contribution to the global debates on effective labour standards and decent work in the garment sector.
Building upon the Findings and Recommendations of the Regional Meeting, and subsequent fieldwork, the DWR-Africa project issued a report on Develpomental Enforcement (2019).The report focuses on the most urgent challenges to public and private enforcement of labour standards in the South African and Lesotho garment sectors.
The study was led by Shane Godfrey and co-authored by Debbie Collier, Roger Ronnie, and Abigail Osiki (Institute of Development and Labour Law at the University of Cape Town, South Africa), Deirdre McCann (Durham Law School, UK) and Kelly Pike (Global Labour Research Centre, York University, Canada).
DWR-Africa had a particular focus on Lesotho, where it investigated work-life and gender dynamics and how these relate to informality in, or associated with, the garment sector.
Some of the research findings are reflected in our documentary on the garment sector in Lesotho and South Africa. The film – Rethabile's Story – was launched at the UN in Geneva (July 2019) and has since been shown to audiences around the world, including as an Official Selection of the Canadian Labour International Film Festival, screening in Toronto in November 2019, and the Workers Unite Film Festival, screening in New York in September 2020.
The documentary has raised public awareness of conditions in the garment sector in Lesotho among audiences across the world.
The DWR network’s findings and recommendations have been used by the UN International Labour Organization to shape global policy on effective labour laws.
In Africa, the project findings have been drawn on by the Lesotho Labour Commissioner, the Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa, ILO Pretoria, and by trade unions across the region. The IndustriALL union, for example, has used our findings in capacity-building (Swaziland, Madagascar), collective bargaining (Uganda, Zimbabwe), and advocating for rights in Export Processing Zones (Ethiopia).
In Lesotho, the Project has contributed to Labour Code reform and generated a national-level Framework for a Decent Work Training Programme.
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