Dialogue for Sustainability (DfS) – Pakistan

The textile and garment industry of Pakistan holds 60.82% (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics -2022) share of the total exports of the country. Being a major exporter, the sector faces, increasing pressures to comply with the international best practices, vis-à-vis labour, social and environmental standards. In this regard, third-party audits have proven to be ineffective to ensure compliance of national and international laws and regulations. One of the reasons is that third-party audits do not effectively contribute to sustainable development because of lack of involvement of workers and line managers in the decision-making process. Thus, there is absence of ownership for sustainability measures, especially at the shop floor of the factory. 

To address this problem, GIZ developed a "Dialogue" approach, which is a change management methodology based on the concept of process consultation.  This methodology was, jointly developed by GIZ and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) with the support of leading international brands namely Adidas®, Tchibo® and C&A®.

In 2014, the methodology was introduced in Pakistan as "Dialogue for Compliance" and by end of 2022 supported more than 100 Pakistani factories from the textile and associated sectors successfully in transforming towards sustainable production. The approach is now known as the “Dialogue for Sustainability (DfS)”. DfS is a self-help approach based on process consultation, designed to bring together various representatives throughout the organisational hierarchy, to work as a "Change Management Team (CMT)" towards achieving common goal of sustainability (social, economic, environmental) in organizational operations.

For reference, three case studies are attached in which detailed analysis of pre and post DfS interventions are mentioned, mainly on energy efficiency, water conservation, chemical management and waste recycling. Overall, the factories have not just improved their processes but also have increased their profit and productivity through DfS.

For more details and impacts, please check the video:

Through DfS, if your organisation wants to improve the social, economic and environment sustainability, our trained multipliers can support you through the process. Details of the multipliers are as below. Feel free to contact them directly.