Labour migration

FAIRWAY supports returning Ethiopian migrant workers

Under the framework of the ‘Support to Reintegration of Returnees in Ethiopia’ agreement with the Ethiopian Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the FAIRWAY Programme supported cash transfers for 806 returning migrants.

News | 12 December 2020
Contact(s): Grace Sebageni, FAIRWAY Programme Manager Africa, (e): sebageni@ilo.org
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ILO News) – As the COVID-19 pandemic continued to intensify through 2020, the Ethiopian Government was faced with an increasingly challenging situation in ensuring a safe environment to receive their returning nationals and to support their socio-economic reintegration. The returnees, mainly due to returning home in such unexpected circumstances, were faced with a host of difficulties, in particular, lack of decent livelihood opportunities and stigmatization. Many returnees come back empty handed, as their earnings had been used for consumption and remittances to their families and in some cases, with unpaid wages and benefits. The Government of Ethiopia and partners mobilized resources to provide emergency support and to manage Covid-19 quarantine centers but faced multiple challenges in providing subsequent social and economic reintegration support services to returnees.

In order to support the Government of Ethiopia, the ILO through its various projects, began planning to provide support to efforts led by the Government of Ethiopia to ensure successful reintegration of returning migrants. These ranged from providing immediate assistance upon their return home through cash transfers, to longer-term social and economic reintegration empowerment through sustainable transition to work and enterprise.

Under the oversight of the Government of Ethiopia, and in collaboration with other ILO projects under the framework of the ‘Support to Reintegration of Returnees in Ethiopia’ agreement with the Ethiopian Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, cash transfers funded by the FAIRWAY Programme were operationalized for 806 returned migrants. All 806 returnees were supported to open up bank accounts with a designated financial institution and were able to receive cash transfers to support their re-integration. The monthly transfers (equivalent to US$ 40 per month) to these recipients commenced in November 2020 and the monthly disbursements will be maintained for 3 months, ending at the close of January 2020.