Better Work Haiti shares challenges, opportunities and industry highlights for the first half of 2023. It’s been a year of political and economic struggles, but also exciting new initiatives for the garment industry.

This update details difficulties facing the industries, including factory closures and job loss – approximately 9,000 garment industry jobs have been lost because of factory closures – and the ways in which unrest and violence have impacted the industry. There are also promising new opportunities and initiatives taking root in Haiti. The US government is supporting the extension of the HOPE/HELP trade preferences program; likewise the value of goods exported for the last reporting period has increased 14.5%.

Better Work Haiti shares both internal efforts and partners’ work to strengthen the garment sector and improve the lives of workers. Stakeholders mobilized to secure a payout of nearly 1 million USD to workers who were laid off due to a factory closure. Better Work Haiti has also worked hand-in-hand with government labour inspectors to insure that working conditions continue to be monitored despite disruptions to work. These updates and more industry news are detailed in the 2023 mid-year newsletter.