Strengthening Socio-Economic Resilience of Returnee Migrants

The project is consistent with the Government of Sri Lanka policy priorities for the reintegration and response plans for COVID-19 response, including a) National COVID-19 Response Plan for Migrant Workers (NRPMW) referenced in the rationale and b) Sub policy and National Action Plan on Return and Reintegration of Migrant Workers. Additionally, the project further supports President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s declaration, the ‘Decade of Skills Development in Sri Lanka’ (2021-2030), which emphasises the importance of transforming the general, higher and professional education and vocational sectors in Sri Lanka to reduce the population of unskilled labour in the country. The project broadly contributes to the UN framework for the immediate socioeconomic response to COVID-19 and aligns with the UN programme priorities, including a) UN Advisory Paper: Immediate socioeconomic response to COVID-19 Sri Lanka and b) UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) in Sri Lanka, particularly the driver group 3 – Human security and socioeconomic resilience. The project is consistent with the strategic priorities identified in the UN Advisory Paper: Immediate socioeconomic response to COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, particularly economic recovery. Project objective: • The proposed project of 24-months jointly implemented by IOM and ILO and will contribute towards the sustainable socioeconomic reintegration of returnee migrant workers. Specific objective: By 2022, the target beneficiaries of the project will have recovered from the impact of COVID-19 and will be sustainably engaged in an income generation activity in Sri Lanka or abroad. Expected results: For the above objective, IOM and ILO will initiate three parallel processes; the first process will focus and address the protection needs of returnee migrants and prepare them for effective social reintegration, the second process will target skills development for future employment opportunities and the third process focuses on institutional capacity development. • IOM - Outcome 1: Migrant returnees impacted by COVID-19 have sustained or restored their livelihoods through community infrastructure or access to employment opportunities and are able to take ownership of their recovery processes along with their communities and local administrations. • ILO and IOM – Outcome 2: Reduced vulnerability of returnee migrant workers through enhanced skills development for future employment opportunities. • ILO - Outcome 3: Improved capacity of government institutions facilitates consistent economic participation of migrant returnees.

Project symbol

LKA/20/04/IOM

Admin unit

CO-Colombo

Start date

28/04/2021

End date

31/07/2023

Total allocation

757557

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

728400

Development Partners

International Organization for Migration

Country/Countries

Sri Lanka

Outcomes

Outcome 6: Protection at work for all