Advancing social justice, promoting decent work
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Migrant workers
Mapping of the skills assessment procedures, certification standards and equivalencies between Sri Lanka, UAE & Kuwait
This report seeks to map the existing skills certification requirements and standards in Sri Lanka, against the skills
required by countries of destination such as United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait. It further highlights the
equivalencies and gaps in the construction sector in the identified occupations and recommends measures to
improve the implementation of the skills qualification framework and quality of training services of prospective
Sri Lankan construction workers who seek employment in UAE and Kuwait.
At national level the labour migration policy in Sri Lanka highlights the way forward for the labour migration sector in Sri Lanka through the promotion of enhanced skills of migrant workers. Likewise, regional level dialogues such as the Colombo Process, recognize the need to study and discuss common procedures in recognizing the qualifications of workers from countries of origin in countries of destination, particularly in the GCC where there is a high demand for construction industry workers. Better and increased recognition of skills and qualifications of workers, has been identified as one of the five thematic areas under the Colombo Process. The CP Member States have endorsed “developing frameworks for skills training and recognition aligned with destination counties” as one of the recommendations specific to this thematic area in the Colombo Declaration 2016, which was adopted at the Fifth Ministerial Consultation of the CP in August 2016.
