International Organizations

The Skills Initiative for Africa (SIFA) is an initiative of the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Union Development Agency (AUDANEPAD) supported by the German Government and the European Union. SIFA promotes the occupational prospects of young Africans through the support of innovative skills development programmes and close cooperation with the private sector as an integral key stakeholder in the creation of jobs. The initiative consists of two components, a Finance Facility and a Technical Component.

The National Institute of Migration of Dominican Republic carried out a study “Promotion of livelihoods for the Venezuelan population in the Dominican Republic” in coordination with ILO and UNHCR which provides a detailed analysis of the job profiles and skills of Venezuelan migrants in the country, as well as protection and regularization measures aimed at avoiding labor informality and facilitating insertion in the health, education and tourism sectors without creating competition with national workers.

The Joint Programme on Labour Migration Governance for Development and Integration (better known as the Joint Labour Migration Programme or JLMP) in Africa is a long-term joint undertaking between the four organizations, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to implement the 5th Key Priority Area of the Declaration and Plan of Action on Employment, Poverty Eradication and Inclusive Development adopted by the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments (AU/Assembly/AU/20(XXIV)/Annex 3, January 2015) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2015.

The governments of Switzerland and Sweden, in partnership with UNCDF, are supporting the ‘Building Inclusive Digital Economies for Migrants’ programme to bring digital financial services to un- or underserved migrants, to establish digital wage payment solutions, to innovate the remittances market by driving the development of digital transfer solutions and to develop remittance-linked finance products, such as .health insurance, school and education payment plans, savings, investments and loans; pension funds and social security schemes.

IFAD launched the ‘Remittance Community Task Force’ with public and private stakeholders to come up with immediate measures to address the impact of COVID on remittances and in response to the call by the UN Secretary-General for global solidarity within the COVID-19 pandemic. This task force contributed to the discussion within the Financing for Development Process recently launched by the Prime Ministers of Canada and of Jamaica.

The Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) is collaborating with IOM on labour mobility and human development, including employability of youth to enhance the welfare of Egyptian society and migrants.

Canada’s Economic Mobility Pathways Project (EMPP) empowers regional partners and stakeholders, including local governments and the private sector, to help immigration address regional and local labour, economic and demographic challenges and create complementary pathways for the protection of refugees and durable solutions through labour mobility, family reunification, and education.

International initiatives such as the Call to Action: “Remittances in Crisis: How to Keep Them Flowing”, launched by Switzerland and the United Kingdom in May 2020, have also contributed to leveraging remittances and other migration-related financial flows to assist local COVID-19 response and recovery interventions.

The overall objective of the project is to promote the extension of social protection for migrants in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in accordance with international social security standards, by promoting research, informing social dialogue and supporting reform efforts.

The project operates along three main axes:

The COVID-19 pandemic represented a major public health challenge and had serious economic and social impacts on origin, transit and destination countries, as well as on migrant workers and their families and on businesses and their operations. This informative note presents policy options in order to ensure comprehensive social protection for migrant workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.