Migrant workers

Comprehensive mapping and assessment of reintegration measures in South Asian Colombo process Member States

This report has been jointly commissioned by ILO and IOM under the Governance of Labour Migration in South and Southeast Asia (GOALS) programme in collaboration with UN-Women and seeks to map out and assess the nature and gaps in the reintegration support provided to returnee migrant workers from five South Asian Colombo Process member States: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Reintegration is an important aspect of labour migration from South Asia, as majority of migrant workers leave the region as temporary migrants with the intention of returning back. For migrant workers, return takes place in different ways and under different conditions, leading to diverse challenges and opportunities for social, psychosocial, economic and labour market reintegration.

The aim of this study is to take stock and assess effectiveness of existing reintegration measures by comprehensively mapping the same in specific South Asian Colombo Process member States – namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka – and assess their effectiveness. As such, the study maps in detail the currently available and fully developed plans of reintegration support mechanisms for return migrant workers, their families and communities, and assess effectiveness of existing mechanism along the contours of economic and labour market, social and psychosocial dimensions, including gender considerations, in achieving sustainable reintegration across the six identified countries.