Labour Migration Structures and Financing in Asia (India, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka) (RAS151)

Objective

To increase the knowledge base on the financing of protection of migrant workers and organizational structures to manage labour emigration. The research will feed into policy advice by the ILO in its technical cooperation projects and globally highlight lessons learned and good practices in this under-researched area.

Governments in organized labour-sending countries are committing more technical and financial resources to the formulation and implementation of labour migration policies. Over the last two decades, a number of specialized institutions have come up to address concerns about foreign employment. Some experts note that the “bureaucratization” of labour migration policy has reached very sophisticated levels in some Asian countries (Abella, 2000). Nevertheless, other experts point out that research into the issue of institutional capacity for an effective administration of international labour migration has been neglected (Achacoso, 2002).

While there have been studies (IOM, 2005) on migrant welfare funds, little or no research has been done on the financing of labour migration administration, and what are ideal/recommended structure or architecture to manage labour emigration. Research is required to assess what works well and what is needed for the protection of women and men migrant workers in terms of financing as well organizational structures in labour sending countries. This will be particularly useful as a bench-mark and guide-line for countries newly embarking on labour migration.