Mapped in Bangladesh (MiB) is a 4-year research initiative by Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED) of BRAC University [CED-BRACU] that aims to map the export-oriented ready-made garment (RMG) industry across all garment-producing districts in the country. MiB’s design and implementation is in response to a lack of essential industry data, like how many export-oriented factories actually exist in the country, how many male/ female workers are employed there, what kind of products are produced, and/or which brands work with them, etc., among other relevant information.

In line with the nation’s “Digital Bangladesh Vision 2021”, with the MiB tool, the RMG industry is expected to come one step closer to aligning itself to the mandated digitization of every sector. MiB (formerly “DRFM-B” – Digital RMG Factory Mapping in Bangladesh) is a scale-up of a pilot project titled “Participatory Factory Mapping Research” (PFMR) focused on two (2) sub- districts in Bangladesh conducted by CED-BRACU. Both PFMR and MiB are funded by C&A Foundation.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) are the strategic partners of the project. The project is also supported by Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The objective of Mapped in Bangladesh (MiB) is to provide accurate, credible and updated RMG factory information to all industry stakeholders in a manner that enables greater efficiency, productivity, accountability and transparency. Designed and built in Bangladesh, this powerful tool serves as a home-grown solution that further strengthens the country’s significant and thriving RMG industry.

The project aims to collect primary data about the export-oriented RMG industry and disclose information to the public in the form of an interactive online map. Driven by a collective action approach, Mapped in Bangladesh will seek input from all stakeholders through public crowd- sourcing in order to keep the data accurate and up-to-date.

Because of the growing need for credible, industry-wide data on the number of factories, their locations, number of workers, and much more, challenges remain across the Bangladesh RMG industry. This project is the first of its kind, providing a detailed industry-wide database of export-oriented RMG factories on an interactive, digital map (similar to Google Maps). This new platform will be publicly accessible in order to catalyze transparency and bring about meaningful industry improvements in Bangladesh, and thus strengthen the sector as a whole.