THE PRESS RELEASE

THE PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday September 30 2003FIRST HOMEWORKERS WEBSITE, WWW.BHWA.ORG LAUNCHED

During a visit to Dhaka, Neil Kearney, General Secretary of the Brussels-basedInternational Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation, formally inaugurated the first website in Bangladesh focusing on homeworkers, the goods they produce and the difficulties they face in their working lives-
The website, www.bhwa.org, is the latest initiative of the Bangladesh Homeworkers' Women Association to place the issue of women homeworkers at the forefront of the minds of developmental policy makers in Bangladesh.
Inaugurating the website, Mr. Kearney congratulated the Bangladesh Homeworkers'Women Association on their energy and initiative in bringing together homeworkers in Bangladesh under one umbrella and giving them newfound unity and strength to fight for their rights.
These initiatives have involved not only seeking improvements in the prices paid for homeworkers' products but has included the aggressive marketing of these products and focusing the attention of policy-makers on the contribution made by homeworkers to the local economy and the need for their protection.
Said Mr. Kearney: "The internet is a powerful medium for disseminating information and for promoting interest. The BHWA has created a very interesting website for homeworkers -the first in Bangladesh- which not only paints a picture of the lives and work of homeworkers in the country, but also highlights the range of items they produce, and offers the opportunity of purchasing each of these products. This will be a valuable tool for homeworkers and I would urge everyone to visit www.bhwa.org"
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Please address all correspondence to the General Secretary
PRESS RELEASEINAUGURATION OF WEBSITE - www.bhwa.org

Bangladesh Homeworkers Women Association (BHWA) has been working with homebased workers in the country since it's inception in 1986. Along with their fight for worker rights issues, they also work towards increased awareness and financial independence for women homeworkers. A home worker's contribution to the social and economic development of the nation cannot be overlooked. Her hard work is not given due recognition and value.
Homeworkers are a neglected group in Bangladesh.
This organization has seen a quantum increase in activities and membership since the National Workshop in January 2003. The theme of the workshop was to devise a mechanism to frame a "National Policy" for homebased workers. This workshop was the catalyst that brought together most women homeworkers in Bangladesh under one umbrella and gave them a newfound unity and strength to fight for their rights. Subsequently, in the course of their work in advocacy, marketing and other fields, they encountered a big stumbling block in the form of ignorance and social apathy. One big hurdle to their work is the lack of awareness in this country on the contribution of homeworkers to the national economy. This ignorance and apathy has to be tackled before anyone can hope for any favorable government initiatives. To help spread awareness of their cause, they would need to use all available media resources. One media that is being widely exploited currently is the Internet. This media has achieved tremendous popularity & penetration in a very short time mainly due to the ease of usage and the negligible cost involved. The Internet has emerged as the preferred source for all information seekers, outclassing all the traditional information sourcessuch as print media, encyclopedias, directories etc.
Keeping in tune with the present environment, BHWA has designed and developed a website for our organization named "www.bhwa.org" (web design consultants - DRIK Multimedia). This is just a small beginning in their effort to place the woman homeworker issue in the forefront of the minds of all policymakers involved in developmental planning for our country. The aim is to increase awareness and promote the cause of the woman homeworker.
They intend to highlight the various direct and indirect contributions each woman homeworker makes to the national economy and how she gets absolutely no support from the state in return. According to BHWA General Secretary, Ms. Dilruba Anguri, "We hope the website will help us mobilize favorable support for our cause from the general public & society's leaders, both in our country and abroad. All this would not have been possible without the support and constant encouragement received from our partner associations, the ITGLWF, TWARO, HomeNet South Asia, etc. We hope all our associates will support us in this endeavor and look forward to their suggestions and opinions in helping us further improve on our website".
The website was formally inaugurated by Mr. Neil Kearney, General Secretary, ITGLWF, Belgium. ITGLWF has tirelessly campaigned on the national & international stage for granting recognition to homeworkers. They have always been an inspirational and guiding force for BHWA and have on many occasions shown them the right path forward. BHWA owes a lot to their support and encouragement and hopes to continue this close partnership in the future.
The website has been simplistically designed in order to emphasize on the text content. Monotony is however wonderfully relieved by the pictures of the exquisite handicraft creations of women homeworkers in Bangladesh- Various aspects of the organization's activities such as their philosophy, their main focus-the woman homeworker, the marketing aspect, their achievements, their international partners etc. have been detailed in the numerous pages on the site. All the information is presented in an easily accessible manner with minimum frills. Feedback and interaction with the reader is also made easy with an online "Inquiry form" which will forward reader queries to their office. The product gallery is the most visually colorful page and has to be seen. A click on this page is definitely recommended, if not to order, then to just admire the rich colors and varied handiwork of women working under difficult and adverse conditions.
Ms. Dilruba AnguriGeneral Secretary - BHWA