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From unskilled to upskilled

25 Jan 2022

  • How can we take Sri Lanka’s migrant workforce forward?
BY Sumudu Chamara In a context where foreign remittances play a major role in the foreign reserves situation and the national economy, public and private stakeholders in the foreign employment and labour sector should work collectively to increase and streamline migration for employment. In addition to increasing the number of migrant workers, improving their skills and thereby their employability, are matters the said parties should prioritise. This situation was discussed extensively at a multi-stakeholder consultative forum titled “Skilling Sri Lankan Migrants towards the Global Talent Pool” organised by the Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in commemoration of International Migrants’ Day 2021, which was held on 24 January in Colombo. Speaking of increasing and strengthening migrant workers, Skills Development, Vocational Education, Research and Innovation State Minister Dr. Seetha Arambepola explained that her State Ministry has launched national-level programmes with the aim of increasing skilled Sri Lankan migrant workers, improving national vocational training services, providing self-employability skills, and enhancing women’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP). She said that Sri Lanka targets to reduce the unskilled labour force below 10%, and to provide opportunities for everyone, especially women, to contribute to the national economy. “Around 44% of the global workforce is working in low-skilled occupations. When it comes to Sri Lanka, the unskilled workforce was around 25% in 2020 and the pandemic has prevented us from reducing it. Improving foreign remittances through a skilled and professional workforce employed overseas is a priority,” she added. Boosting skilled migration At the event, the importance of mainstreaming skilled migration into the national skills development agenda and how it can benefit those migrating for work, was discussed by ILO Decent Work Team South Asia’s Skills and Employability Specialist Gabriel Bordado. He explained why action on skills development is necessary and urgent, and according to him, when looking at the distribution of migrant workers in 2019 in terms of the region, that year had recorded around 169 million international migrant workers, out of which 65% were aged 15 years and over. He elaborated on several unfavourable situations that call for urgent action on skills development. He noted that the underutilisation of migrants’ skills in countries of destination contributes to brain waste, while a lack of employment opportunities in countries of origin contributes to brain drain. He said that even if skilled individuals are able to find jobs in their home countries, better pay, better working conditions, or social security in countries of destinations may attract them. Another situation Bordado highlighted was the fact that weak skills development systems and policies constitute a push factor. In this regard, he observed: “Skills development systems in countries of origin are often underdeveloped and underfunded and are unresponsive to labour market needs, and access to training is restricted for certain disadvantaged groups. Another issue is that lifelong learning systems are not sufficiently developed, or sometimes completely absent. Therefore, migrants, especially highly skilled migrants, who constitute 28.7% of the global migrant population, may seek education, training, and development elsewhere.” Identifying low skilled migrants as being at risk of exploitation being another situation that requires attention; he explained: “Due to tight restrictions on skilled labour migration in countries of destination, low skilled workers are more likely to migrate through irregular methods, and as undocumented migrants, they are especially vulnerable to exploitation as they fear job loss, incarceration, and deportation. Therefore, they tend to work in the informal economy, where they lack access to social and legal protection. Also, they are more likely to work in occupations that are considered dangerous.” In addition, Bordado said that the lack of systematic information on skills prevents mutual benefits of migration for both the countries of origin and destination. He added that additional knowledge should be acquired on skills available at all levels in the country of origin and that attention should be paid to utilising those skills to cater to the needs of the country of destination, in order to ensure that both countries benefit.  He pointed out several policy options that could be employed to address the above-mentioned situations. Among them are, strengthening skills anticipation systems to formulate migration policies that meet skills demands, increasing migrants access to education and training, increasing bilateral or multilateral recognition of qualifications and skills, recognising formally certified foreign qualifications, and recognising informally gained skills. According to Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) Additional General Manager Mangala Randeniya, the SLBFE and the Foreign Employment Promotions and Market Diversification State Ministry are tasked with sending 300,000 skilled workers in 2022, and that this target reflects the Government’s expectations, what the stakeholders have to work towards, and what collaborations will be needed.  “Our target was to send 300,000 workers, and it was achieved in 2014. However, after 2014, we observed a decline. In 2021, only 121,000 Sri Lankans were sent for overseas employment, and in 2020, only 53,000 were sent due to the pandemic,” he said, adding that even though sending 300,000 migrant workers is a challenging task, collective endeavours involving both the public and private sectors would make it possible. He explained how the SLBFE assists migrant workers, especially concerning their skills development, noting: “A training system has been started to recognise prior learnings, and we have launched a programme to educate on how to gather evidence while they are working abroad. When prospective workers receive training, they are educated on how to gather evidence to obtain the next level of certification. Recently, we developed another programme to help domestic workers upgrade their qualifications to the national vocational qualification (NVQ) Level Four from NVQ Level Three. There will be a pilot project and training. Around 70% of migrant workers are male, and there are several types of occupations male workers are attracted to. However, we do not have a system to provide competencies for them within a given period. But, when we look at the training providing system, they usually have to wait until the annual intake has started. But, when it comes to foreign employment as a whole, such designated times are not really applicable, and we need to provide them with training as and when the demand emerges.” Meanwhile, TVEC Deputy Director General Dr. Janaka Jayalath noted that in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, an estimated number of around 100,000 Sri Lankan migrants returned to the country, and that attention had been paid to developing and identifying their skills including skills gained informally.  Adding that steps have been taken to launch a project to develop the skills of returning migrants, he noted: “We have been preparing a database of returning migrants, and we have tried to register and identify their training gaps in order to address them with several institutions that provide training. As a policy, we tried to offer NVQ qualifications through the recognition of prior learnings, in order to recognise the skills they have gained during their work life abroad. Also, we paid attention to issuing a skills passport, which is a new initiative, and it has their qualifications and verified experiences embedded in this passport.” With regard to the Foreign Ministry’s role in assisting migrant workers, Foreign Ministry Director General – Consular Affairs Priyangika Wijegunasekara said that in addition to the services provided at Sri Lanka’s foreign missions and at the regional offices level, mainly for document-related work, the Ministry intervenes to assist migrant workers who face issues when the SLBFE cannot effectively do so due to some workers not being registered with the SLBFE. According to Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) Director (Capacity Building) Sameera Jayawardena, it is time to focus on virtual migration, in addition to physical migration, in a context where the world has recognised the importance of virtual migration especially after the Covid-19 pandemic expedited digitalisation. He stressed the importance of looking into the competencies those returning to the country desire and their field of work requires, and said that re-skilling as well as upskilling their competencies are also of importance. Return and reintegration  Another key topic the event focused on was skills recognition and development for effective reintegration, which was explained by International Executive Services Corps (IESC) Deputy Chief of Party Chrishan Pereira.  Saying that skills recognition and development for effective reintegration is a timely topic for Sri Lanka as well as for Asia, Pereira added that return and reintegration is a very rigorous and systematic process, and that it is an assortment of multiple things. According to him, this process includes social reintegration, economic reintegration, physical and psychological wellbeing, mobilisation and empowerment, and the effective management of return and reintegration processes.  He noted that more than what is called effective reintegration, attention needs to be paid to sustainable reintegration, adding: “When it comes to effective reintegration, we talk about successfully reintegrating with their families, communities, economies, and the society, but at a given point. When a migrant comes, we talk about effectively reintegrating into the society, socially and even financially, at a given point. But, in order to make it effective, we need to make sure that the return and reintegration is sustainable, so that they will be a part of the whole ecosystem of return and reintegration for a long or a strategic period of time. From an institutional perspective, effective reintegration includes coming back to the country safely, in an economically stable state, although temporarily. Even though their migration objectives may have been accomplished, it is a very short objective of migration.” He extensively described how prospective migrant workers and returning migrants need to be assisted, in order to ensure their social and economic stability abroad and in Sri Lanka.  According to him, prospective migrant workers in most cases are less experienced, economically unstable, have no or very limited entrepreneurial intentions, and are not ready for the recognition of prior learning (RPL) or re-skilling or upskilling, while returning migrant workers in most cases are experienced, although temporarily, relatively economically stable, have entrepreneurial intentions or can be nurtured with proper training to become entrepreneurs, and are ready for RPL or re-skilling or upskilling.  In this regard, four main gaps that need to be addressed can be identified; they are access to information, occupational guidance, vocational skills, and career/livelihood plan.  He explained: “The availability of information may be there, but it is different to accessibility to information. Whether they (prospective or returned migrant workers) have access to information is a question. Also, whether the existing vocational skills services are adequate to cater to the demand is a question. When it comes to livelihood plans, although we have systems, whether they are sufficient to cater to the demand is a question.” To improve the situation of prospective migrant workers, he said, there is a need for awareness raising and accessibility of programmes, occupational guidance counselling, referrals and placement systems, and the development of a skills plan and/or a skills passport. In the case of returning migrant workers, in addition to awareness raising and accessibility programmes, there is a need for post return counselling, re-skilling and upskilling and convenient RPL systems, and development or the re-evaluation of skills plans. He pointed out the importance of skills, quoting the External Affairs Ministry of India regarding a survey conducted in India. The survey, carried out by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in September 2021, indicates that exports of software services as well as services delivered by foreign affiliates of Indian companies marked $ 148.3 billion in March 2021, which is more than the $ 125.3 billion recorded for oil sales in Saudi Arabia for 2021.  Adding that Sri Lanka’s situation is not very unsatisfactory when compared with other countries in the region or global best practices, he pointed out several ongoing interventions aimed at improving and recognising the skills of migrant workers. Among them were, electronic-RPL (e-RP) and strengthening the existing RPL system conducted by the ILO’s Safe Labour Migration Programme (SLMP) and the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC); the skills passport initiative conducted by the ILO, the TVEC, and the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC); career guidance practitioner reforms and re-skilling conducted by the IESC, the SLMP, and the SDC; and the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector reforms conducted by the TVEC and the Skills Development, Vocational Education, Research, and Innovation State Ministry. To make the above-mentioned targets a success, Pereira said that every relevant governing body should work collaboratively, and attention should be paid to advocacy with multi-stakeholder participation, innovative, effective, and robust delivery systems, and also the outcomes. Skills Development, Vocational Education, Research, and Innovation State Ministry Additional Secretary (Skills Sector Development) Himali Athaudage, during this discussion, said that the Skills Development, Vocational Education, Research, and Innovation State Ministry has paid attention to re-skilling and upskilling programmes among the youth as well as among the existing workforce, and that due to the pandemic, a need for innovative methods to give education and skills arose. She said that the steps have been taken to conduct online learning programmes and blended learning programmes, and also to introduce online assessments. Meanwhile, Foreign Employment Promotions and Market Diversification State Ministry Senior Assistant Secretary Nikaril Kanth noted the importance of including return and reintegration in the existing policies: “When a person departs, they have to think about return and reintegration as well, and they have to plan it. The Foreign Employment Promotion and Market Diversification State Ministry has developed a migration policy in 2008, and we saw the need for including return and reintegration also in it. Some modifications were made after consultations and the reviewing of the existing policies.” During the discussion, TVEC Director Dr. Ajith Polwatte said: “We need to recognise the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and maybe technology as well, that returning migrants bring. When it comes to reintegration, the qualifications matter. They support their mobility between countries and shifting between workplaces, and qualifications improve recognition and respect of the person. Therefore, giving qualifications is of utmost importance.” The targets the Government has set are ambitious, and it remains confident that with support from the relevant stakeholders, achieving those targets is not impossible. Such collaboration will not only strengthen the national economy, it will also change a large number of Sri Lankan migrant workers who live and work in inferior working and living conditions due to the lack of recognition for their skills and due to the lack of skills.


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