Objective 18: Invest in skills development and facilitate mutual recognition of skills, qualifications and competences

1. Overview

The European Qualifications Passport for Refugees is a document providing an assessment of higher education qualifications designed for refugees, including those who cannot fully document their qualifications. This initiative has inspired a UNESCO led initiative to establish a Global Qualifications Passport for Refugees and Migrants.

Mexico has been implementing programs to evaluate and certify middle skilled workers for migrants with relatively lower levels of formal education but who have acquired significant and complex skills through on-the-job learning. Migrants that fit this profile include, for example, skilled construction workers, experienced garment manufacturers, workers in the high-end service and hospitality industry, and home-health care providers.

The Japanese Economic Partnership Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines established the legal framework to receive Indonesian and Filipino nurses and care workers. Japan has been receiving candidates to become nurses and care workers from these countries for years. The program provides language training and the opportunity to work in Japanese hospitals. Candidates can take the examination to become qualified nurses and care workers and access work in Japan beyond the 3- or 4 year- period foreseen by the program.

Norway has recently launched its new integration strategy 2019-2022 "Integration through knowledge", which places great emphasis on investment in education, qualification and skills. 

The aim of the strategy is to increase immigrants’ participation in working life and in society in general, focusing primarily on helping immigrants to access work. The strategy also involves strengthening the effort to prevent segregation and exclusion, instead promoting participation and togetherness.

Programmes promoting effective management of health workers' migration, health system capacity building, and skill/knowledge transfer from the diaspora are underway in Somalia, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Ghana. 

In Somalia, IOM’s "Migration for Development in Africa" (MIDA) is an ongoing capacity-building programme, which helps to mobilize competencies acquired by African nationals abroad for the benefit of Africa's development. 

The Youth College is a free education, training and mentoring programme for young migrants (mostly asylum-seekers) aged between 15 and 21 in Vienna. As part of the city’s broader “Start Wien” integration initiative, the aim of the Youth College is to help young migrants lead an independent life as quickly as possible by preparing them for further education, vocational training or the workplace.

The 'Cadre National de Certifications' (CNC) is a project which creates a framework for sectoral specific qualifiations in Morocco. The framework acts as a tool at the international level to promote international mobility for students and workers through reference to the 'Cadre Européen des Certifications' (European Qualifications Framework) (CEC), guaranteeing continuity within the education and labor qualifications system. The project, which was begun in Europe, now includes a number of countries south of the Mediterranean, including Morocco.

The partnership between the Moroccan National Federation of Public Works (FNBTP) and the German training organization 'Otto Benecke Stiftung', together with professional federations and German and Moroccan vocational training institutions, provides young people with vocational training in Morocco. The aim of the project is to contribute to the battle against youth unemployment and against irregular migration to Europe, as well as to provide vocational training in Morocco that meets international standards.