Developing a Roadmap to Facilitate South-South Labour Mobility in Southern Africa

The overall objective of this project is to strengthen the capacity of the Ministries of Labour in DRC, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to implement labour migration programmes within the framework of the SADC Labour Migration Action Plan, SADC Regional Labour Migration Policy Framework, and Article 19 of the SADC Employment and Labour Protocol on the Protection of Migrant Workers.

There are three main outcomes that will lead to achieving the overall objective of the project as follows: Ministries of Labour have developed labour migration programmes customised to each IOM Development Fund (IDF) associated country’s national context; governments are implementing the recommendations from the assessment reports and the labour migration roadmaps; and a regional action plan on labour migration is utilised by SADC Member States to enhance labour migration practices in the region.

It is envisaged that these three outcomes will serve to address some of the main labour migration issues confronting SADC Member States in the Southern Africa region. Such issues pertain to lack of effective data collection, analysis, reporting and exchange systems, lack of inter-institutional coordination mechanisms and inter-state/cross border cooperation, and weak capacity to develop and implement labour migration programmes tailored to each countries specific national context. Through this regional project, the selected SADC Member States will have increased capacity to manage labour migration more effectively through implementation of relevant regional frameworks governed by the SADC Secretariat, such as those mentioned above.

Ultimately, this initiative will bring together the selected SADC Member States in order to facilitate South-South labour mobility arrangements with a view toward ensuring the protection of the fundamental human, labour, and social rights of migrant workers, their families, and associated communities of origin and destination, as enshrined in the International Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and Their Families.