In 2007, Gap, Inc. launched the Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement (P.A.C.E.) program, designed to support women globally who work in the apparel industry.
This support included opportunities to build skills, participate in technical training, and advance in the workplace. P.A.C.E. program was delivered to vendor facilities starting that year and then expanded to community settings in 2013, when both women and adolescent girls could get involved with the program.
The initial phase of the program reached five countries across Asia – which expanded to seven – and directly impacted over 20,000 female garment workers.
Gap, Inc. brought ICRW into the collaborative to support curriculum development and evaluate the impact of the program across all countries where the program was being implemented. Gap Inc. and ICRW joined Bangalore-based NGO Swasti Health Resource Centre to design and develop the program over the course of the first 18 months. This curriculum included lessons around communication, time and stress management, decision-making and problem solving.
From 2009-2013, ICRW conducted evaluations at six factory sites – two in India and one each in Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and China. Research findings from these multi-country evaluations demonstrated that P.A.C.E. was an effective, sustainable and scalable model, yielding high returns for women, their families and the businesses where they work.
In 2013, Gap, Inc. began to expand the program, and at the 2015 Clinton Global Initiative meeting, the company announced an ambitious goal to extend its workplace education program to one million women and girls. As of early 2020, over 500,000 women in 17 countries had participated. Gap, Inc. expects to reach or exceed its 2015 goal by 2022.
