Good nutrition is a basic building block for a happy, healthy and productive life. Recognizing an opportunity to help apparel workers understand the connection between diet and health, Better Work Vietnam recently created an educational video on the topic, with support from the Levi Strauss Foundation.
The video, “The 24 Hour Food and Nutrition Journey,” is currently available in English and Vietnamese, and follows a day in the life of Hoa, an apparel worker in Vietnam. The story focuses mainly on Hoa’s food choices from breakfast through to dinner as she tries to balance a hectic working day with a healthy diet. The video provides simple and practical eating tips workers like Hoa can follow to ensure they stay healthy and productive — both at work and at home.
While the video was originally created for Vietnamese workers, Better Work now is in the process of adapting it for workers in Cambodia, and translating it into Khmer, so workers there can benefit from the information as well.
The Better Work program, which created the video, is a collaboration between the International Labour Organization (ILO) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) that seeks to improve the lives of apparel workers by striving to create secure safe, clean, and equitable working environments. Through education and awareness building on important local issues such as nutrition and health, the Better Work program is making a difference in workers’ lives and well-being.
As part of these efforts, Better Work Vietnam is providing the video as a teaching tool to help factories promote good nutrition and healthy eating among workers. Because many factories provide lunch for their workers, as well as dinner if they are working overtime, the video is designed to support factory efforts to improve worker meals and promote healthy eating. It also complements existing Better Work training materials for improving wider life skills among workers.
The project came to fruition in part thanks to support from the Levi Strauss Foundation (LSF). Local Better Work teams in various countries use funding from LSF in order to respond to local priority well-being issues such as nutrition.
“This video captures the spirit of the Worker Well-being initiative by addressing a worker need in a creative way. The video along with other Better Work interventions provide workers with tools to make healthy lifestyle choices. At the same time, factories are likely to see more energetic and productive workers,” explains Stan Wong, Senior Manager at the Levi Strauss Foundation.
By 2017, the Better Work program will have improved the lives of at least three million workers by pushing for better working conditions and adherence to labor standards and laws. The Levi Strauss Foundation and LS&Co., through our Worker Well-Being initiative, continues to be committed to making workers rights a priority and doing right by apparel workers around the world.
“The 24 Hour Food and Nutrition Journey” video is also available in Vietnamese.
Learn more at the Better Work global site and Better Work Vietnam.
Eating Well: Educating Apparel Workers About The Importance of Proper Nutrition
January 4, 2016
