Communicating and Strengthening Women Migrant Workers’ (WMWs) Network-DCA

Communicating and Strengthening Women Migrant Workers’ (WMWs) Network-DCA

POURAKHI-Nepal with the support of Dan Church Aid (DCA) facilitates a project entitled, “Communicating and Strengthening Women Migrant Workers (WMWs) Network and Expanding their Outreach and Mobilizing them to Protect the Rights of WMWs.” The project was focused in Bardiya District, a mid-western district with an open border to India. The objectives of this project were:

• To empower returnee migrant workers, especially women migrant workers and their families through capacity building and information dissemination on safe migration,
• To advocate for the effective implementation of women migrant worker friendly international instruments, such as the ratification of the UN Convention 1990 on Migrant Workers and their Families, and ILO Convention 189 and
• To strengthen civil society organizations. Within Bardiya district, this project was particularly focused on the five migration prone VDCs,(Tarataal, Jamuni, MainaPokhar, Kalika and Sano Shree).

Activities were performed between January 2014 to May 2014. Joint Monitoring visit to Bardiya, Kailali and Kanchanpur Districts with DCA representative and WOREC representatives from 27th February to 3rd March 2014. Recommendations to govern a Coordinating Meeting of Safe Migration with Local Stakeholders in Guleriya, Bardiya were held on 28th February 2014. Representatives based on the GFMD 2014 Themes. Organized a three-day refresher training on safe migration to POURAKHI Bardiya members from the five VDCs. MFA-Nepal Chapter (POURAKHI, PNCC, WOREC, Migrants Center and Youth Action Nepal) with the support of Dan Church Aid (DCA) organized a National level Pre consultation Meeting on the 4th of May 2014, on Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) – 2014 to be held in Stockholm, Sweden from 12-14th May 2014. Came up with recommendations and delivered them to the Government Delegate participating in the GFMD. (Recommendations below. participated in the People’s Global Action (PGA) program and Global Forum for Migration and Development 2014 in Stockholm, Sweden from 9th to 15th May 2014. (Key Messages from PGA below) Recommendation

• Integrate migration in global, regional and national development agendas
• Leverage migration as an enabler for inclusive economic development
• Leverage migration as an enabler for inclusive social development.

Role of Nepal Government& Action Steps:

• Establish information dissemination centres in each district that can provide all/any information related to migration
• Create more employment opportunities
• Eliminate migration costs by reducing the maximum payments to recruitment agencies (ex. Malaysia 80,000NRS)
• Provide formalized entrepreneurship and skills training free of cost or at more affordable rates
• Provide investment opportunities with financial schemes to migrants and their families
• Increase government programs and plans to manage migration
• Establish banking schemes that facilitate safe migration, regulate recruitment processes, and monitor pay/remittance transfers
• Establish a mandatory savings scheme for migrants (ex. Welfare Fund payments, insurance Financial literacy training to migrant households
• Review and amend destination country MoUs by consulting with civil society
• Increase investment opportunities through providing an incentive scheme and/or better regulations to provide investor security
• Establish banking schemes that facilitate safe migration, regulate recruitment processes, and monitor pay/remittance transfers
• Social security fund (ex. through Welfare Fund)
• Specific awareness program on safe migration, financial literacy, and reintegration
• Provide awareness programs to address stigmatization of returnees
• Dignity of work and respect for people working abroad through awareness campaigns
• Women re-integration programs should provide opportunities for collective investment and skills capacity building
• Awareness of social issues through religious leader/faith based.

Message to GFMD from Nepal Govt :

• Compensation on death and accidents: Investigations and post mortems by independent organizations.
• Work towards zero fees for workers during the migration process
• Destination countries and employers should contribute to skills based training in source countries
• Expedited justice services available in destination countries for victimized migrant workers by impartial parties (to the best of their ability)
• Free choice of employment. Labour movement should not be restricted due to sponsorship/kafala systems
• More research should be conducted to get a better understanding of migration patterns once workers have left Nepal
• Ratify the international convention on migrant workers and their families (CMW)
• Ratify ILO C189 on Domestic Work
• Ensure all workers have a provident fund in the destination country (ex. employee and employer pay a percentage of the workers’ salary to a government fund to accrue interest. Worker should receive at the end of their employment.)
• Government investment-scheme for investment in tourism and energy sector
• Ensure women’s rights are respected throughout the migration process
• Birth registration, certification, and citizenship should be addressed by destination and source countries.