Information is power: Empowering the disempowered through community engagement

The information gap on fair recruitment and regular labour migration makes migrant workers vulnerable to abusive practices and forced labour. In order to bridge this gap, the REFRAME project in partnership with Mera Maan, trained a group of local civil society organizations and 27 community change-makers from high migration districts in Punjab and Khyber Pukhunkhwa in Pakistan. The sessions delivered by the community change-makers covered information on the channels and process of safe and regular labour migration, consequences of unfair recruitment practices, including forced labour and human trafficking; mechanisms to access justice for grievance handling, among other important topics. The voices from the community validate the positive behavioural change among communities, with reduced reliance on informal intermediaries, and improved access to regular channels of migration.