FAO is working towards building the capacity of poor and vulnerable youth in migration prone areas, including cash transfers beneficiaries, and engaging them in productive activities along agro-food value chains; and support youth entrepreneurs to scale-up their businesses along selected value chains.
The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot is a community-driven program designed to spread the benefits of economic immigration to smaller communities by creating a path to permanent residence for skilled foreign workers who want to work and live in rural communities where they can quickly become self-sufficient, and exercise their skills in agriculture and food production. This innovative, economic pilot will test a new community-driven approach to attracting and retaining newcomers to communities across Ontario, the Western provinces and the territories.
FAO supports rural youthwith alternatives to migration in a number of countries through fostering decent rural employment in sustainable agriculture and agribusiness along value chains.
The second implementation phase (2015-2018) of FAO's Integrated Country Approach (ICA) for boosting decent jobs for youth in the agri-food system targeted Senegal, Uganda and Guatemala. FAO's efforts in this programme are aimed at providing rural youth with alternatives to migration through decent rural employment in agricultural value chains, and by fostering diaspora engagement in agri-business.
In May 2017, the Government of Guatemala established the National Strategy for Labor Reintegration for Returned Guatemalan Migrants (Estrategia Nacional para la Reinsercion de los Migrantes Guatemaltecos Retornados) to collect returnees' sociodemographic and skill profiles, and to establis institutions and processes for facilitating skill certification.
The Ethiopian National Rural Job Opportunity Creation Strategy targets rural job seekers, primarily the unemployed and underemployed, literate and illiterate, and those without regular and sufficient income, both women and men, who are above 15 years of age. Furthermore, landless and school drop outs, technical and vocational trainees, and university graduates, farmers evicted from their land due to the expansion of urbanization and industrialization and those who need special support because of disability will be potential beneficiaries of the strategy.
In October 2018, Nepal signed a labour agreement with Malaysia, the preferred job destination for Nepali migrant workers.
Nepali Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security Gokarna Bista and Malaysian Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Recruitment, Employment, and Repatriation of Workers amidst a special function in the Capital.
The government of Nepal is revising the minimum wage set for workers in the country. According to a source at the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, a worker shall get paid at least Rs 13,450 a month from 17 July 2019 (revised up from the previous minimum of Rs 9,700).
The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security Minimum made this decision following a recommendation of the Wage Fixation Committee. The Ministry says the workers benefit from Rs 2,500 in addition to their wage as part of their ‘social security’ under the Social Security Act.
Access to justice is one of the principal challenges faced by migrant workers. In many cases, abused or illegally dismissed workers find it difficult or even outright impossible to file and prosecute labor complaints against their foreign employers. Once employment is terminated, the migrant worker has very limited options. Oftentimes, they are deported or opt to return to the home country without receiving their unpaid salaries, benefits and other monetary claims.
The Government of Sweden wants newly arrived immigrants in Sweden to quickly find a workplace that is relevant to the individual’s education and experience. At the same time, there is a shortage of labour in many industries; these are now being helped with the provision of skills through the creation of fast tracks by the Swedish Public Employment Service and various industries, to make it easier for newly arrived immigrants to establish themselves in the labour market.