ATTI Bangladesh Needs Assessment: Building the Evidence Base for a Manufacturer-Led Transformation in the Bangladesh RMG Sector
ATTI Bangladesh Needs Assessment
Over August and September 2026, the ATTI Bangladesh Needs Assessment moved through a series of milestones, from orientation and data-capture workshops in Chattogram and Dhaka to focus group discussions with sustainability and compliance leaders, factory owners, and entrepreneurs. These sessions are building the evidence base for an industry-wide Transformation Plan for Bangladesh's textile and ready-made garment (RMG) sector.
Chattogram: Orientation and Data-Capturing Workshop
The Chattogram edition of the ATTI Needs Assessment Workshop took place on 13 August 2026. Over 50 participants joined, representing factories from across the region's textile and RMG sector, alongside representatives from both BGMEA and BKMEA, and colleagues from their Dhaka and Chattogram offices.
Participants were oriented on the ATTI Needs Assessment, walked through the survey questionnaire, and completed a live data-capturing exercise, contributing valuable evidence toward the national Transformation Plan for the sector.
Dhaka: Orientation and Data-Capturing Workshop
The following week, on 20 August 2026, the ATTI Needs Assessment Orientation and Data-Capturing Workshop was held in Dhaka. More than 100 participants took part, with ATTI Bangladesh leads from BGMEA and BKMEA coming together with member factories, to help shape the future of the sector.
Focus Group Discussion: Sustainability and Compliance Heads
On 3 September, ATTI Bangladesh convened a Focus Group Discussion at BGMEA, bringing together professionals managing sustainability and compliance across multiple stages of production, from spinning, weaving and knitting through to dyeing, finishing and garmenting.
The discussion explored the on-the-ground realities of sectoral transformation, including the challenges manufacturers face in managing data, developing skills and capabilities, and identifying, adopting and scaling adapted technologies and machinery. Participants identified several priorities: more harmonised and streamlined data requirements, stronger and more specialised capacity building, greater access to local technical expertise, and better mechanisms to help factories identify, test and scale technologies that deliver measurable improvements. They also pointed to the importance of stronger connections between factory-level action and the wider enabling environment, including finance, infrastructure, policy and energy supply, as well as long-term partnerships.
The discussion reinforced a principle at the heart of the ATTI Needs Assessment: transformation will require more than just setting requirements; it will require a reconfiguration of the ecosystem so that manufacturers are able to act and invest decisively and at scale. Olivia Windham Stewart, ATTI Initiative Director, joined the session during her visit to Dhaka.
Focus Group Discussion: Factory Owners and Entrepreneurs
A second Focus Group Discussion was also organised on 3 September at BGMEA. This time, factory owners and entrepreneurs from the textile and RMG sector came together for a conversation about the conditions that influence investment decisions, and the practical realities of pursuing environmental and decarbonisation-related transformation.
Participants discussed the importance of access to finance, supportive and predictable policy, commercially viable technologies, reliable infrastructure, and stronger long-term partnerships between manufacturers, brands, financial institutions, technology providers and other stakeholders. They also shared perspectives on the need to make investments in transformation easier, particularly where investment decisions are affected by risk factors such as significant upfront capital, or uncertainties around the wider policy and market environment.
A recurring theme was the importance of moving beyond individual interventions and towards a more coordinated, enabling approach to sectoral transformation.
Building the Evidence Base
Together, the orientation and data-capturing workshops and the focus group discussions are helping to identify the barriers, opportunities and enabling conditions needed to support transformation across Bangladesh's textile and apparel sector. The findings will inform the development of an industry-wide Transformation Plan for the country's textile and ready-made garment sector.
All workshops were coordinated and delivered by The Sustainability Nexus (SusNex) Ltd., ATTI Bangladesh's delivery partner for the Bangladesh Needs Assessment, in collaboration with ATTI Bangladesh, led by BGMEA and BKMEA, including Sajjad Alam, BGMEA's Senior Assistant Secretary for Decarbonisation, Energy Optimisation and Sustainable Energy and ATTI Bangladesh Lead. They were made possible with the generous support of GIZ and GIZ STILE II, in cooperation with the Government of Bangladesh.
ATTI is grateful to all those who attended the workshops and focus group discussions and would also like to offer a special thanks to Vidiya Amrit Khan, Vice President of BGMEA and President of ATTI Bangladesh, and Kamran Sadique, Co-Chair of the Standing Committee on Decarbonisation at BGMEA and Chair of ATTI Bangladesh, as well as ATTI Bangladesh Country Representatives, Rafia Anowar, Managing Director of Textown and Nishat Hamid, Managing Director of Sasha Garments, for their participation in these events and their continued support and leadership.
More updates from the ATTI Bangladesh Needs Assessment are coming soon.
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