Building Practical Guidance to Strengthen Ethiopia's Overseas Employment System

BISHOFTU, Ethiopia (ILO News, 16 to 20 May 2026), the International Labour Organization (ILO), through the Better Regional Migration Management (BRMM) Programme, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Skills (MoLS), convened a five-day Stakeholder Consultation Workshop in Bishoftu, Ethiopia, to develop an Overseas Employment Orientation Guideline for Ethiopia.

The workshop brought together 38 participants, including 8 women, representing key institutions involved in Ethiopia's overseas employment ecosystem. Participants included officials from MoLS headquarters and regional bureaus of labour and skills from Amhara, Oromia, Central Ethiopia, and Tigray regions; TVET bureaus and training institutions; Chambers of Commerce, including Amhara and Oromia chambers of commerce; returnee associations, such as Misale Returnees and Potential Migrants Organization; and civil society organizations, including Biruh Adis Charitable Organization and Kasem Charity Organization. The workshop served as the primary evidence-gathering platform to map existing institutional roles and responsibilities, identify governance gaps, and collaboratively develop practical, user-friendly guidance to strengthen coordination and service delivery across Ethiopia's overseas employment system.

Ethiopia is one of sub-Saharan Africa's largest labour-sending countries, with many migrant workers, particularly young people, seeking employment opportunities abroad, mainly to Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the Middle East. However, overseas employment exposes migrant workers to considerable vulnerabilities, including irregular migration, unfair recruitment practices, contract substitution, skills gaps, and inadequate pre-departure preparation. To strengthen labour migration governance, the Government has introduced key reforms, including the Overseas Employment Proclamation No. 1389/2025, Bilateral Labour Migration Agreements with destination countries, enhanced regulation of Private Employment Agencies, and integration of pre-departure training into TVET curricula. The Overseas Employment Orientation Guideline builds on these efforts by providing practical, clear and actionable guidance to support the consistent implementation of overseas employment procedures across institutions.

This guideline is more than a document - it is a tool that will help all actors in Ethiopia’s overseas employment ecosystem, from regional labour officers and TVET institutions to potential migrant workers, understand and navigate the labour migration process. It will transform the newly endorsed proclamation and directive into guidance that people can apply in practice

Mr. Asefa Ferede, Chief Executive Officer for Job Creation, MoLS

Over five days, participants worked collaboratively to examine each stage of the overseas employment journey - from recruitment and skills training to placement and return. Through thematic working groups and plenary sessions, participants mapped institutional roles, reviewed existing operational processes, and identified key implementation challenges, including inconsistent access to the e-LMIS system across regional bureaus, gaps in the issuance of Certificates of Competency (CoC), and persistent mismatches between training and deployment timelines. Participants also explored why potential migrant workers often default to informal intermediaries and highlighted the Guideline’s potential to make formal migration pathways more accessible, transparent and user-friendly.

The workshop concluded with consensus on the overall structure of the guideline, establishing a validated framework that will guide the drafting process. The agreed outline and consultation findings will form the basis of the first draft, which will undergo national validation before being finalized and rolled out through MoLS and TVET institutions across the country.