'I am precious'

Garment factory workers work long and hard for small reward in Cambodia. And most come from villages in the provinces to earn money to send back home to their families. A new competition that aims to raise their profile and find a golden nugget or two amongst the mainly female workforce has been launched this week.

Cambodia launches a competition to promote value of garment workers
A nationwide competition titled "I am precious" was launched in Phnom Penh this week in order to honor Cambodian garment workers, value the work they do, and enable them for the first time to show their talents and expression through a dress design and song lyrics competition. The competition is a joint campaign under a collaboration of Cambodian Ministry of Women's Affairs and some NGOs, including ILO Better Factories Cambodia and Garment Manufacturers' Association in Cambodia (GMAC). All workers from garment factories are eligible to submit their dress design and song lyrics until Oct. 15, a press release said. The final event of the competition will be held in December this year, and during the closing event, best dress designs and song lyrics will be presented in a show and the champions will be selected by representatives of the Cambodia's garment industry stakeholders. This national competition is aimed to highlight the importance and contributions of the garment work and workers to Cambodia, and provide the workers an opportunity to release their self-worth and potential skills through a friendly competition, it said. There are over 330,000 workers employed by the Cambodian garment industry, adding that most of them are young women with limited education from rural areas.