Nepal - Labour migration and the remittances earned by migrants abroad are crucial to Nepal’s economic development and represent a quarter of the South Asian nation’s GDP (USD 5.6 billion in 2013). However, just two percent is set aside for investments.

There are no institutional programmes to counter this trend and encourage migrants to save and invest. Nepal’s excessive reliance on migration to fill the absence of in-country employment opportunities poses a serious threat – any substantial decline in capital inflow from migrants may destabilize the economy and society.

As migration and the resulting financial flows will remain important to Nepal and Nepalese households alike in the coming years, IOM and the International Agency for Source Country Information (IASCI) have signed a partnership agreement on a Research and Policy Dialogue Initiative on Migration and Development.

This is the first project of its kind to assist a Nepali institution to develop a national policy framework to harness the potential of migration.

The objective of the Research and Policy Dialogue is to assist the Government of Nepal in developing policies and project interventions that would connect migration with the resulting financial flows and development. While developing the research, a few elements were taken into consideration: households and migrant surveys, structured interviews with local authorities, consultations with the Government, and private sector and civil society organizations.

“Little has been done to maximize the benefits of the financial and social remittances that Nepal’s migrants bring back home,” says Maurizio Busatti, IOM’s Chief of Mission in Nepal. “The research and consultative process will provide the government, civil and private sector a better way of formulating policies, projects and market interventions in order to normalize migration.”

Nicolaas de Zwager, IASCI’s Director emphasized the importance of dialogue in stimulating and enhancing the benefits of migration through an innovative, flexible and responsive Nepal-specific context. “Evidence from other countries proves that in order to enhance the benefits of migration, we have to focus on the migrants and improve the coordination between public, private and civil society,” he said.

The 15-month research project is being funded by the IOM Development Fund, co-funded by IASCI and implemented in close partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Central Bureau of Statistics and Integrated Institute of Development Studies in Nepal. 

For further information please contact Maurizio Busatti at IOM Nepal, Tel. +977.1.4426250, Email: mbusatti@iom.int