Diaspora for Development Study Tour and Program Development Support - Pakistan

Through its Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis (MLMOP), Pakistan took action to increase opportunities for legal overseas employment of potential émigrés, and to link the émigré community with local development actions. The GoP sought to further build the capacity of the MLMOP to gather and manage data, articulate strategies for engaging the labour diaspora in local development, and enhance Pakistan's market share of regular overseas employment opportunities.

This project was designed to help GoP/MLMOP specify specific actions it could take, independently or in collaboration with IOM, to better achieve its institutional goals, and to articulate these actions within fundable project strategies. To accomplish this, this seed project aimed to: 1) provide a study tour for MLMOP officials to visit a site where similar government functions have recently been strengthened through joint IOM/government action; 2) provide the opportunity for MLMOP to strengthen institutional ties with a number of countries' agencies pursuing similar goals; and, 3) provide follow-up programme development support to MLMOP to assist in the full articulation of capacity building projects.