Improved access to migration systems

Since decades, migration has been central to Bangladesh’s socio-economic development and it is an important livelihood strategy for men and women and their families. Over the past decade, an average of 600’000 Bangladeshis opted for labor migration every year, with a steady increase, in particular also of women migrants. Remittances are one of the backbones of Bangladesh’s economy and, in 2019, amounted to 18 billion USD. Despite its importance, labor migration processes (including access to skills and information, recruitment, access to justice, remittances management, etc.) are still characterized by several gaps and limitations, rendering both male and female migrant workers and their families vulnerable and underutilizing their potentials. The global COVID19 pandemic has further exacerbated the vulnerabilities with less job opportunities (in 2020, only 200,000 workers could depart from Bangladesh) and forced returns of those losing their jobs.

Against this background, Helvetas together with local partner organizations (OKUP, RMMRU, Prottyashi and BNWLA) follows a systemic approach and implements interventions focusing on

• enhanced information and awareness of migrants and their families by facilitating pre-decision making orientations for aspirant migrants and raising awareness on general key safe migration information in the community.
• providing free legal assistance for victimized migrant workers through both alternative and formal grievance mechanisms.
• strengthening duty-bearers for improved quality and enhanced outreach of service delivery to migrants and their families, including relevant stakeholders delivering pre-departure orientation, alternative dispute resolution mechanism and formal legal actors, as well as financial service providers.
• greater resilience of migrants and family members through effective use of remittances, based on sound financial literacy