Madagascar - IOM and Madagascar’s Ministry of Employment yesterday (14/11) released the National Assessment on Labour Migration report in the capital, Antananarivo.

Participants from the various ministries and key public institutions responsible for labour migration, UN agencies, private sector and civil society representatives involved in labour migration management attended the report launch, which was chaired by Minister for Employment Lydia Toto Raharimalala.

The National Assessment was conducted between March and July 2016 and included a critical analysis of the legislative and regulatory framework, and the institutions governing labour migration in the country. It included a qualitative field study of labour migration trends in four of the country’s regions and presented recommendations to ensure that labour migration continues to be well managed.

Currently Madagascar faces a difficult socio-economic situation. The UN estimates that nearly 336,000 jobs, or 30 percent of employment in the formal sector, were lost in the last five years, primarily as the result of the political crisis that gridlocked the country between 2009 - 2014.

This led to a growing number of Malagasy nationals migrating to look for opportunities abroad. As a result, international labour migration increasingly became an effective short and medium-term solution for both migrants and their communities of origin.

IOM Madagascar Head of Office, Daniel Silva y Poveda said: “With this landmark report, decision makers and stakeholders have the material they need for a comprehensive upgrade of labour migration management in the country. We need this to ensure that labour migration is leveraged as a force for good.”

Minister Toto called on all stakeholders “to align themselves to the highest level of engagement and to join efforts to ensure that the reality of labour migration is linked to the benefits of the migrants themselves, and to national development.”

The National Assessment is part of the wider IOM Development Fund-supported project: Strengthening Labour Migration Management in Madagascar. The project seeks to ensure the implementation of labour migration policies and labour mobility programmes that incorporate the principles of protection of migrant workers; and to strengthen the capacity of Madagascar in the engagement of bilateral commitments on labour migration.

For further information, please contact Daniel Silva y Poveda at IOM Madagascar, Tel: +261.32 56 54 954, Email: dsilva@iom.int