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The magnitude of the Rana Plaza catastrophe and the devastation it caused shocked Farhana. Immediately after the collapse she tried to do what she could to support the survivors – visiting them in hospitals, schools, at home and helping family members cope with the trauma of having to identify the bodies of their loved ones.
This initial engagement led to her securing a small amount of private funds that were then used to offer direct support to the victims. Later with the help of further donations from private and institutional groups, Farhana was able to extend the aid and slowly developed an aid programme.
Farhana designs the programme's components and personally coordinates its day-to-day running, interacting with both partners and beneficiaries directly. This personal supervision is crucial to enable her to make adaptations and modifications to the programme, sometime necessary due to a change in circumstances on the ground or perhaps to respond to the unsatisfactory performance by a component partner.
Farhana von Mitzlaff is a native Bangladeshi with two master's degrees and over 7 years experience working in social compliance within the Bangladesh garment manufacturing industry. Over the years she has developed extensive ties with the business sector, Bangladeshi authorities, NGOs and the labour sector through her active involvement on the Bangladesh Round Table on Social Compliance. Highly motivated and socially competent, she finds it easy to build a rapport with most people she works with, whether they be company executives, government officials, union representatives or former garment workers and their families.