ILO and Switzerland agreed to continue support for initiatives on decent work for migrant workers

ILO and The Embassy of Switzerland will continue to support the Government of Bangladesh, to operationalize the policy and legal measures developed with the assistance of the earlier initiatives through the Phase II of ‘Application of Migration Policy for Decent Work for Migrant Workers’ project.

At a ceremony held in Dhaka on 12 December 2018, ILO Bangladesh and The Embassy of Switzerland jointly declared the launch of the Phase II of the project ‘Application of Migration Policy for Decent Work for Migrant Workers’.

ILO Country Director for Bangladesh and the Director of Cooperation a.i. of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) signing the new phase of migration project
The project will be implementing by the International labour Organization (ILO) and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) during January 2019 - December 2021. The total budget for the project is USD7.5m, of which SDC Contribution is USD7.2m for 2016-2021 and the rest is in-kind contribution from the Government of Bangladesh. SDC contribution for the new phase for three years (2019-2021) is USD3.9m.
 
Director of Cooperation a.i. of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) Derek George signed the agreement on behalf of the Government of Switzerland and on behalf of ILO, Country Director Mr. Tuomo Poutiainen signed off. Other officials from ILO Bangladesh and Embassy of Switzerland were also present at the event.

The project will be implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment as well as workers’ and employers’ organizations. It is a legacy of the recently completed Phase I of the same project. The new phase of the project will continue to support the Government of Bangladesh, to operationalize the policy and legal measures developed with the assistance of the earlier initiatives.

Mr. Tuomo Poutiainen, Country Director, ILO Country Office for Bangladesh said, “ILO will happily contribute to the capacity building of the relevant stakeholders and system development for operationalising labour migration policy framework in Bangladesh. These actions hopefully lead to fair recruitment process and labour migration governance in Bangladesh, together with the government, other UN agencies and development partners. The current collaboration is a testimony of both on the excellent achievements and focusing on what is required in the coming years”.

Derek George, Director of Cooperation a.i., Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), said, “Swiss Development Cooperation will support the Government of Bangladesh to streamline the policies and institutions for safe labour migration and decent work through this project. The government of Switzerland remains committed to support safe, orderly and regular migration from Bangladesh.”

The project will continue to support the government to implement the policy and legislative frameworks which has already been adopted. The project will continue to provide support on developing and introducing an integrated migrant worker’s information system including on-line complaints mechanism, integrated recruitment agent’s information system and labour market information system. The project will also support the government by strengthening capacity of BBS to undertake the ‘cost of migration surveys’ with an aim to feed into the reporting of SDG indicator 10.7.1. The project will also continue to enhance the capacity of government and private recruitment institutions to provide better and sustainable services to women and men migrant workers.

The project continues to work with the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, its subsidiary organizations, and other stakeholders. These include the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, Labour Wings attached to Bangladesh overseas missions, the Wage Earner’s Welfare Board, Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited, Probashi Kallyan Bank, Non-government Organizations, research and statistics institutes, as well as workers’ and employers’ organizations.

Currently there are around 10.9 million Bangladeshis living and working in 165 countries. Every year, there is additional 2m workforce in the job market of the country, of which about 1m migrants go abroad for work. In 2017, a total of 5.5m Bangladeshi workers migrated abroad, including 1.3m (18.65%) women migrant workers.

Around USD 16b is remitted every year, which has become 7 per cent of the GDP, 9 times higher than FDI and 7 times of foreign aid, thus making labour migration a major strategy for human development.