At a glance

Partners: Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development (MOP&HRD), Ministry of Education and Professional Training, Higher Education, Commission of Pakistan (HEC), National Vocational Technical Training, Commission (NAVTTC), Employers’ Federation of Pakistan, Pakistan Workers’ Federation, Sustainable, Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

International partners: ILO, IOM and UN Women

Targeted beneficiaries: Youth

Project location: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Viet Nam, China, Indonesia

Geographical coverage: Nationwide – Pakistan

Overall project goal: Labour migration is safe, orderly and regular for all women and men from the Colombo Process Member States through strengthened collaboration and effective labour migration governance.

Background and objectives

The Project is conceived in response to various facets of labour migration in the corridors between South and South-East Asia and the Middle East and builds on the first phase of the SDC supported regional project, “Strengthening Labour Migration Governance through Regional Cooperation in Colombo Process Countries”. The participating UN organisations (PUNOs), IOM, ILO and UN Women come together while partnering with other relevant stakeholders, including migrant workers and their representatives, civil society organisations, private sector including employers’ organisations, trade unions, recruitment agencies, and academia and policy thinktanks to support the implementation of this regional project.

The GOALS Project responds to the current context, achievements, gaps and challenges relating to safe, orderly and regular labour migration from the South and South-East Asia countries of the Regional Consultative Process on Overseas Employment and Contractual Labour for Countries of Origin in Asia (Colombo Process). It envisions a three-year strategic and comprehensive focus for positive change, increased social and economic benefits for women and men migrant workers, their families and the countries of origin. Working with the Colombo Process Member States, guided by the Colombo Process Thematic Area Working Groups (TAWGs), the programme conceptualizes the links between countries of origin and destination countries and strives to strengthen governance from policy to practice, regional to national, and vice versa.

The programme is built on three inter-linked and inter-related outcomes:

1. Colombo Process Member States develop and progress actionable commitments for strengthened labour migration governance and policy coherence through multilateral dialogue.
2. Selected members states in South Asia have improved labour migration policies and practices, in particular on skills development and qualifications recognition, fostering fair and ethical recruitment, and sustainable reintegration; and
3. The evidence base on labour migration is strengthened to inform knowledge, dialogue, policy making and action.

The programme incorporates the selected key thematic priorities of the Colombo Process placing specific focus on improved skills recognition, fair and ethical recruitment and sustainable reintegration. The programme will ensure that all interventions identify and address the barriers facing gender equitable labour migration not only at the regional level through the Colombo Process, but also for the improvement of overall governance of labour migration at the South Asia sub-regional level and the national level. The programme will promote equality for women migrant workers using a cross-cutting, gender mainstreaming approach, in line with the Kathmandu Declaration’s commitment to mainstream a gender lens into all working group discussions in order to address the specific needs and vulnerabilities of women migrant workers and promote equal opportunities for them.

Main activities in Pakistan

• Improve Bilateral Labour Agreements (BLAs)
• Improve national labour regulations
• Support advocacy and policy dialogues to promote fair recruitment and reduce cost of recruitment
• Support private employment promoters to adopt ethical business practices
• Support Government to develop a South Asia Qualification Referencing Framework
• Introducing National Skills Passport in Pakistan
• Support Government efforts to identify new overseas job markets
• Develop a knowledge hub to address knowledge gaps on labour migration