Labour migration is central for Nepal’s development with 50% of all men under the age of forty working abroad; Nepal is the second highest remittance earner in relation to the GDP globally after the Kyrgyz Republic. The outflow of workers from Nepal has peaked in 2015 with half a million people leaving for foreign employment per year. The demand in the Gulf states, Nepal’s main destination countries, has since decreased due to the slowdown in their economies.

Many workers face severe exploitation and other difficulties while abroad. However, migrants often do not receive effective legal and other consular services; as a result, workers collectively lose millions of dollars in redress payments.

International policy dialogues are important for Nepal. It presently leads not only the Colombo Process, a regional consultative process of 12 Asian labour sending countries, but also the Technical Working Group on migration of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. It participates regularly in other regional and global policy dialogues. However, Nepal’s capacity to really influence the agenda of these processes remains limited so far.

The present government has put reforms in the management of migration and the protection of migrant rights on the agenda. The proposed project will provide technical assistance in many areas that the GoN has declared as priorities: improvement of consular support; bilateral agreements with destination countries; exploration of alternative labour markets.

Migrants and their families (women/men/discriminated groups) are better protected by democratic institutions in Nepal and benefit from decent work .

The proposed project aims to strengthen government policies and mechanisms, hence the primary beneficiaries are the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (MoLESS), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and the diplomatic and consular missions.

Secondary beneficiaries are the men and women migrants who benefit from better services.

• Labour Migration policies strengthened and implemented at federal and state level
• Bilateral mechanisms strengthened to improve Nepali migrant workers' access to better jobs
• Nepali consular and diplomatic missions in countries of destination have provided more effective services
• The Government of Nepal effectively engaged with regional and global policy dialogues on labour migration and implemented relevant policy outcomes

Expected results:  

• GoN supported to revise national legislation and regulations on labour migration
• Shuvayatra platform expanded to enhance access to financial and employment services to migrants completed
• Provincial government units supported to establish and
• implement labour migration governance policies
• NPC and MoLESS have monitoring mechanism in place for key labor migration indicators
• Technical assistance provided to Government of Nepal (GoN) for the signing, renewing and implementation of Bilateral Agreements
• MoLESS has facilitated formalization of new sectors/destination for high-skilled migrant workers
• MoLESS has completed preparations for the formalization of new labour markets for low skilled workers
• MoLESS developed system to respond to migration related policy trends in countries of destination
• Government of Nepal has piloted newly endorsed operational guidelines for Nepali consular and diplomatic missions
• The GoN developed a national position, including priorities and concrete messages for the regional and global policy dialogues on labour migration
• Diplomatic and consular missions benefitted from increased coordination with non-governmental support services in countries of destination

Results from previous phases:   N/A

SDC funded projects: The proposed project complements the Safer Migration Project (SaMI) which empowers migrant workers and supports the governments in Nepal and mainly at local level to provide services to migrants and their families. 

Global Programme Migration and Development (GPMD): The proposed project complements the GPMDs work with international policy dialogues related to migration and particularly the Technical Support Unit for the Colombo Process, which is presently chaired by Nepal. 

Other Development Partners: SDC contributes to this ILO project with DFID. DFID is, after SDC, the second bilateral donor supporting the GoN to improve its migration management and the protection of migrant workers’ rights.

Phase 1 01.09.2018 - 30.06.2023   (Completed)