The Better Work Program has its roots inthe Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program,established in 2001 as a follow-on from the 1999U.S.-Cambodia Bilateral Trade Agreement. Thefree trade agreement (FTA) was the first to linkimproved labor conditions with greater marketaccess. The BFC program benefitted all the keystakeholders by improving work conditions,supporting the growth of the apparel sector inCambodia (benefitting all local stakeholders),and boosting developed world buyers’ reputationby sourcing from ethical workplaces. BFChas also helped to cushion the negative effectsof external changes to the trading environmentin the apparel sector (the end of the Multi-FibreArrangement quota system in 2005 and the globalfinancial crisis in 2008–09). The program hasgrown substantially; as of December 2014, BWhas reached over a million workers in more than1,000 factories across eight countries (Bangladesh,Cambodia, Haiti, Indonesia, Jordan, Lesotho,Nicaragua, and Vietnam).