California workplace health and safety professionals continue longstanding solidarity with ANROEV members

September 12, 2025

California workplace health and safety professionals continue longstanding solidarity with ANROEV members

 Workplace health and safety professionals in northern California are continuing their decades-long collaboration and solidarity with ANROEV members and other worker organizations in Asia. Opportunities for funding of trainings and technical hazard assessment projects are available now with a November 1 st due date for proposals. The broad-ranging collaborations include partnerships with Developing World Outreach Initiative (DWOI), the Maquiladora Health & Safety Support Network (MHSSN), and the University of California School of Public Health and Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH). The MHSSN has worked with ANROEV members since the late 1990s, DWOI began its work in 2006, and interactions with the UC Berkeley programs began in 2018.

DWOI / MHSSN Grants

For more than a decade DWOI and MHSSN have been providing grants to ANROEV members for occupational health and safety projects in the form of training for staff, workers and community members, and technical projects to assess workplace hazards and investigate protections for exposed workers. Just since 2020, there have been 21 technical projects and 40 trainings funded by DWOI and MHSSN in Asia, out of a total of 24 technical and 63 training projects funded worldwide.

Grants for Technical and Training Projects, 2020 to 2025 From the Developing World Outreach Initiative
and Maquiladora Health & Safety Support Network

Technical Projects (21 in Asia) 

Training Projects (40 in Asia) 

Bangladesh

1 project 

Bangladesh 

6 trainings

India

9 projects 

Cambodia

1 training

Indonesia 

1 project 

India

15 trainings 

Nepal 

6 projects 

Indonesia

3 trainings 

Pakistan 

1 project 

Nepal

1 training

Phillippines

1 project 

Pakistan

6 trainings 

Vietnam 

1 project 

Philippines

4 trainings

Sri Lanka

2 trainings 

Thailand 

1 training

Vietnam 

1 training

ANROEV members have been active in soliciting and conducting these projects, with CEPHED in Nepal organizing six technical projects, Cividep in India conducting four technical projects and four trainings, and IOHSAD in the Philippines and LION in Indonesia both organizing one technical and three training projects in the 2020-25 period.

The reports from all these projects are posted on the DWOI webpage

The current round of proposals for technical and training projects has a due date of November 1, 2025, and interested organizations can contact Garrett Brown for details (garrettbrown2021@gmail.com). Grants are available for $750 USD for OHS trainings and up to $3,000 USD for technical workplace hazard assessment projects.

Referrals to AIHA Microgrant Program

In addition to its own grants, DWOI / MHSSN has referred ANROEV members’ project proposals to the “Emerging Economy Microgrant” program of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) in the United States.

In the 2020-2024 period, referrals to the Microgrant program resulted in grants up to $3,500 USD for four organizations in Bangladesh, two organizations in India, and one in Sri Lanka.

The AIHA Microgrant program has an open submissions period, meaning proposals can be sent to AIHA at any time, and the selection committee meets quarterly. More Information on the Microgrants program is available at AIHA.

UC Berkeley Course Research Projects

Since 2018, the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley has conducted a graduate course on Global Occupational Health, focusing on workplace hazards in global supply chains. The major project required of students in the course is to conduct research on a workplace health and safety issue proposed by a worker organization in the developing world.

The students communicate with the partner organization throughout the semester, and the final product is a report on the OHS issue from the student that the partner organization can use for public education, worker trainings, and advocacy. Research topics have included the adverse effects of heat, chemical exposure, ergonomics in manufacturing, and gender-based issues including violence and harassment. More than a dozen research topics from ANROEV members have been investigated by UC Berkeley students since 2018.

UC Berkeley is running the Global Occupational Health course again in spring 2026 and is soliciting research topics from ANROEV members. For more information on the course and possible research proposals, contact Garrett Brown (garrettbrown2021@gmail.com).

COEH Internships with ANROEV Members

In 2025, UC Berkeley’s COEH established a scholarship fund named after Professor Robert C. Spear to provide graduate students in occupational health and safety with funds to intern with worker organizations in the United States and internationally.

The inaugural year of the internship program saw UC Berkeley students working for 10 weeks as interns with ANROEV members Cividep in India and IOHSAD in the Philippines. Both organizations also received grants from the AIHA Microgrant program to take full advantage of the graduate students’ work as interns in generating publications, training materials, and advocacy papers.

More information about the Spear Intern Scholarships from UC Berkeley -- and how to offer a scholarship in 2026 – is available at the Robert C. Spear Internship Scholarship. 

Despite the financial cutbacks and exclusionary policies imposed by the Trump Administration in Washington, the work of the DWOI, MHSSN, and UC Berkeley continues. This collaboration with ANROEV members and worker organizations throughout Asia now spans several decades and possibilities for cooperation and solidarity will continue into the future.