Dar es Salaam – IOM, the International Organization for Migration, convened a meeting (25-28 Jan) of labour and migration experts to finalize training modules to mainstream gender considerations in labour migration policy formulation and implementation in Africa.

The meeting was held under the umbrella of the AU-ILO-IOM-ECA Joint Programme on Labour Migration Governance for Development and Integration in Africa (JLMP) and brought together experts in charge of labour migration governance and statistics from the African Union (AU), regional economic communities (RECs), national institutions and other partners. 

The labour migration modules validated will guide trainings and workshops on labour migration governance for partners and beneficiaries. 

IOM will do this through its Centre of Excellence – the Africa Capacity Building Centre (IOM ACBC) in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, which assists IOM African Member States to strengthen capacity in migration management. 

The JLMP was launched in 2018 to implement the African Union’s Migration Policy Framework for Africa (MPFA) and the Fifth Key Priority Area of the Declaration and Plan of Action on Employment, Poverty Eradication, and Inclusive Development.

The Declaration was adopted by the African Union in January 2015 and places labour migration, regional economic integration and social protection as some of six key priority areas for achieving economic growth and sustainable development of the African Continent based on full and equitable employment. 

Since 2018 the JLMP has been bringing together key stakeholders at national, regional and continental levels to strengthen the regulation of labour migration and mobility and the implementation of labour migration standards and policies.  

In 2019 the Programme developed a Capacity Building Strategy on labour migration governance in Africa for migration practitioners and relevant stakeholders to guide short-term trainings on priority areas such as gender responsiveness in the migration cycle. 

 “IOM supports the view that successful management of labour migration requires a deliberate and regulated approach to address the complex range of policy issues and choices involved, including the need to learn from past policy failures and experiment with new approaches to migration management that do not undermine development objectives,” said Sufi Qasim, IOM Chief of Mission in Tanzania. 

Delegates, including representatives of East African Community (EAC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), underscored the importance of establishing regular, transparent, comprehensive and gender-responsive labour migration policies, legislation and structures at national and regional levels.

They also underlined inter-state cooperation and collaboration as critical for the formulation and implementation of coherent policies and programmes, as well as the importance of accurate, timely and disaggregated data in designing appropriate policy interventions. 

IOM’s work with JLMP has been made possible through the generous support of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development (SDC). 

For more information, contact Eric Mazango at IOM Ethiopia, Email: emazango@iom.int