Viet Nam - The final evaluation workshop for the project: “Promoting Safe Labour Migration from Viet Nam through the Establishment of a Migrant Resource Centre (MRC)” was held this week, with the financial support from the IOM Development Fund (IDF).

At the workshop, over 100 participants discussed a plan for the operational, legal and financial basis for continuing and expanding MRC services in Viet Nam. A consolidated plan will now be submitted to the government for approval.

The project is an innovative collaboration between the Vietnamese Department of Overseas Labour (DOLAB), the Vietnamese Women’s Union (VNWU) and IOM.

Vietnamese Vice-Minister of Labour, Social and Veteran Affairs Nguyen Thanh Hoa stressed his commitment to improve protection of Vietnamese migrant workers abroad and welcomed the contribution of the MRC. He called for the continued involvement of IOM and ILO in the project.

IOM Chief of Mission for Viet Nam, Florian Forster, said: “In order for migrants to continue benefitting from MRC services, it is essential that the operation becomes sustainable in the long run. IOM is willing to stay involved and to support the Ministry’s efforts.”

Viet Nam’s first MRC is located at DOLAB’s main office in the capital of Hanoi.  It opened in May 2012 to provide direct and independent information to migrants, and to raise awareness among the public and stakeholders of the risks of irregular labour migration. In the meantime, five more provincial MRCs were opened with financial support from the ILO. 

Since then, the MRC has been providing counselling services for potential, current and returned migrants. They can access counselling through walk-in visits, by email or telephone. A series of destination country profiles were produced. To raise awareness about labour migration among the general public, posters and leaflets were also printed.

The number of individual cases handled each month by MRC staff in Hanoi has steadily increased over the past 2 years, with monthly numbers growing from around 60 to more than 200 per month. In addition, there have been more than 100,000 visitors to the MRC’s Vietnamese language website http://www.hotrolaodongngoainuoc.org/.

Another achievement is a series of policy dialogues organized by the VNWU designed to raise awareness among key stakeholders in areas of high emigration. These attracted over 3,000 participants in 12 provinces. IOM, the VNWU and DOLAB also managed to establish a migration network of national and local stakeholders by holding training for NGOs, mass organizations and others involved in the labour migration process.

For more information contact IOM Viet Nam

Florian Forster
Email: fforster@iom.int
Tel.  +84 903 450 196