Labour Ministry and IOM partner to upskill 100,000 foreign employment seekers under new system

• Outward labour migration eroded by 73.6% YoY to 53,713 persons in 2020, due to pandemic
• In 2020, official worker remittance inflows remained resilient, contributing to 8.8% of country’s GDP
• 60% of migrant workers and over 91% female migrants classified as low-skilled

By Nishel Fernando
The Labour Ministry and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) a.k.a. the UN migration agency, have reached an agreement to launch the ‘Dream to Departure’ (D2D) project, with a target to upskill 100,000 Sri Lankan workers for foreign employment through an establishment of an Integrated Guidance and Referral Systems (IGRS) platform over the next four-year period, according to a media communiqué issued by the Labour Ministry. 
Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva and key ministry officials held discussions on the proposed project with IOM officials, at the ministry premises, last Friday.

During the discussion, it was highlighted that Sri Lankan workers lacked qualification and experience to meet the large number of foreign employment opportunities currently available, including in the housekeeping category, which has pushed millions of migrant workers into low-skilled jobs, due to lack of direction, pathways and support. As outward labour migration eroded sharply by 73.6 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 53,713 persons in 2020, due to the pandemic, the government remains particularly committed to sustain worker remittance inflows into the country. In 2020, official worker remittance inflows remained resilient while contributing to 8.8 percent of the country’s GDP, while all other key foreign exchange inflows were adversely impacted, in particular tourism inflows taking a hard hit. 

A large number of high-paid foreign employment opportunities, which were being made available to Sri Lanka through government-government agreements, remain unfulfilled, mainly due to weaknesses in workforce preparation for foreign employment markets by responsible state institutions such as the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBEF) while various stakeholders in the foreign employment industry continue to operate in isolation.

As per the available data, 60 percent of migrant workers were classified as low-skilled currently. 
In order to address these issues, IOM has agreed to develop the proposed IGRS platform on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis without requiring public funds and would be handed over to the government upon the completion of the project period. 

The minister is expected to submit a Cabinet memo seeking the approval for the proposed project from the Cabinet of Ministers shortly. 

IOM has also agreed to provide free training to 40,000 foreign employment candidates who are seeking employment opportunities in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the advance housekeeping category. The training would be based on an advance curriculum specially designed for overseas markets, consisting of key requirements such as language skills. The selected candidates would also receive a payment during the training period. In addition, the candidates are also entitled to receive an international vocational qualification upon the completion of the programme and other benefits such as worker insurance. Over 91 percent of Sri Lankan female migrants were classified as low-skilled, as per the latest data. 

Meanwhile, the government is expected to provide training to 60,000 foreign employment candidates in 24 occupational categories over the four-year period.  Per annum, the government plans to train 20,000 such candidates, including 5000 in high-skilled caregiver category and 23 other occupational categories, targeting high-paying foreign employment vacancies. 

The government plans to provide financial assistance to the candidates by ensuring access to loans by partnering with the banking sector. 

Further, the Labour Ministry is also planning to introduce special COVID vaccination programmes for the trainees of the programme.  Meanwhile, the existing worker insurance scheme is expected to be integrated to the proposed IGRS platform and a new employer database is also to be developed in the proposed platform.

Further, the Labour Ministry also agreed to integrate its foreign employment development officer network with the IGRS platform to support foreign employment seekers. 

In order to ensure self-financing of the proposed platform, a nominal fee is proposed to charge on candidates to recover the maintain cost of the platform, without burdening the state coffers.  Both IOM and the Labour Ministry expect the proposed IGRS, which brings all stakeholders into one platform, to boost worker remittance inflows to the country while meeting the aspirations of hopeful Sri Lankan migrant workers in a well-planned and coordinated manner while ensuring their well-being and safety.