Contract TOR – CONSULTANT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF VANUATU LABOUR MIGRATION REINTEGRATION STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN
Job Description
Terms of References (ToR)
Develop Vanuatu Labour Migration Reintegration Strategy and Action Plan
1. Background
Vanuatu was the first country in the Pacific to send seasonal workers to New Zealand (in 2007) and has remained the top three countries of origin for migrant workers to both New Zealand and Australia. In total 16,562 Ni-Vanuatu workers participated in the 2022–2023 season (7,100 in New Zealand and 9,462 in Australia). An estimated 11.5 percent overall, and 20.4 per cent of men in the working age population in Vanuatu (aged 20 to 59 years) are engaged in seasonal work.1 The popularity of seasonal work is unsurprising given that workers from Vanuatu earn up to ten times more in New Zealand and Australia than they would in Vanuatu. Since Vanuatu began sending workers to New Zealand and Australia, engagement in these schemes has been noticeably gendered, with the percentage of Ni-Vanuatu women participating in seasonal work proportionately lower than most other Pacific countries.
Within Vanuatu, reintegration is increasingly understood to include not only the workers themselves, but also their families, their communities, and the broader social, economic, and governance environment. This approach has been referred to as the “ecosystem approach” which includes the understanding that labour migration takes place across various phases and is not simply one directional. In the context of Vanuatu’s labour mobility, it is crucial to appreciate the circular nature of labour migration, with many workers returning to seasonal work multiple times. Ultimately, successful reintegration in Vanuatu, as elsewhere, is not only about how people feel, but includes a range of considerations and factors. The IOM Glossary on Migration describes reintegration as “A process which enables individuals to re-establish the economic, social and psychosocial relationships needed to maintain life, livelihood and dignity and inclusion in civic life”. As a complex and multifaceted process, return and reintegration takes place at a range of levels and across several different dimensions. As such, a more integrated and nuanced approach to return and reintegration is needed. Particularly for seasonal schemes, where most workers travel to New Zealand or Australia for periods of less than one year, and often return to work for several seasons, the experiences of returnees and the families they return to are diverse, as are their goals and challenges.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) office in Vanuatu recognized the wider impact of labour mobility on socio-economic development, and the importance of reintegration initiatives that leverage benefits for migrant workers and their families. When promoting successful reintegration for migrant workers, an important step is to ensure that they have access to support and services pre- and upon their return, as well as able to make well- informed decisions regarding all aspects of their reintegration and/or remigration. This approach is closely aligned with Vanuatu’s 2030 National Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the Government of Vanuatu’s evolving approach to the governance and management of labour migration.
With this, IOM Vanuatu aims to support the Government of Vanuatu, specifically the Department of Labour and Employment Services (DOL), to strengthen and streamline the approach and planning on reintegration nationally, through the development of Vanuatu Labour Migration Reintegration Strategy and Action Plan. The initiative is implemented under the IOM-ILO Joint Labour Mobility for Sustainable Development and Climate Resilience in the Pacific Programme funded by the Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MMPTF). To ensure that the initiative responds to the needs of migrant workers and their families, IOM Vanuatu through this TOR aims to engage a consultant(s) to carry out desk reviews, assessments and consultations leading to the development of the Reintegration Strategy and Action Plan.
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