The FAIRWAY Programme

The FAIRWAY programme addresses underlying causes of decent work deficits at their source through national-level interventions in selected countries of origin in East, West and North Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Morocco). In the Arab States, the programme provides continuity to interventions in countries of destination across the region by building on the work of the Fairway Middle East project (2016-2019), which target low-skilled migrant workers from all regions. With a focus on key sectors where vulnerable migrant workers are engaged—including domestic work and the construction sector—FAIRWAY seeks to address the interlinked structural, behavioural, and practical barriers to improved labour migration.

FAIRWAY works to realise four objectives:

• Private sector, employers’, and workers’ organizations are engaged to produce decent work environments for migrant workers
• Gender-responsive policy frameworks are developed or strengthened to realise fair recruitment and decent work and regulatory compliance
• Discriminatory attitudes towards women and men migrant workers are diminished; and
• Migrant workers have improved access to information and support services throughout the migration cycle.

Interregional Programme to Promote Decent Work for Migrant Workers from Africa to the Arab States

FAIRWAY Programme Phase II is a four-year interregional development cooperation initiative that aims to improve conditions for migrant workers by strengthening labour migration governance in the labour migration corridor between Africa and the Arab States. Building on the lessons learned and achievements from FAIRWAY Phase I and other ILO projects in the Africa and Arab States regions, the focus of the current phase of the Programme remains on employment sectors where migrant workers are most vulnerable – namely domestic and care work, and construction work.

The Programme adopts a gender transformative approach aiming to support attitude and social changes and to reshape gender dynamics, by addressing the causes of gender-based inequalities.

The Programme focuses on fostering cooperation and consensus building on labour migration governance and the protection of migrant workers, including through the development of common positions among countries of origin in collaboration with the East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In the Arab States, the Programme expands on existing cooperation with the Ministries of Labour of the GCC countries, the GCC Executive Bureau, as well as with trade unions and employer organizations to focus on bringing about reforms in the GCC countries, with more limited, strategic interventions in Lebanon and Jordan.

ILO FAIRWAY, Phase II reinforces the focus on strengthening labour migration governance in the migration corridor between Africa and the Arab States (particularly the GCC countries) to enable Africans (especially from East and West Africa) migrating for employment to the Arab States to benefit from fair and regular migration pathways with improved access to protection services and decent work opportunities.

The intervention model is based on a gender-sensitive decent work agenda that focuses on three areas of engagement:

• Inclusive, rights-based dialogue.
• A gender-transformative approach to migration in the context of care work.
• Protection and empowerment of migrant workers.

Geographically, this phase of the Programme will focus at a regional and inter-regional level on East Africa, West Africa and the Arab States, with a focus on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, with three main outcomes to enhance labour migration governance:

• Improved intra and interregional dialogue and cooperation for effective labour migration interventions.
• Improved decent work outcomes for women migrant workers in accordance with a gender-transformative agenda (including in the specific context of care work).
• Increased protection and empowerment of migrant workers through provision of services, protection of rights and representation (workers’ voice).