March 31, 2021
As a part of our partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, GFEMS is excited to share the launch of our new project with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Coupled with other efforts in the portfolio, the Fund’s objective in this project is to create sustainable business models for the recruitment of migrant workers in Kenya, consistent with international ethical recruitment standards.
Ethical recruitment is a key focus of the Fund’s efforts. Working within our intervention framework, we target reduction in supply of vulnerable individuals, demand for cheap goods and services, and the enabling environment that allows modern slavery to persist and traffickers to operate with impunity. This project includes elements that specifically target the demand and the enabling environment.
Read about a similar work in Uganda.
Addressing the demand for cheap goods and services through risk reduction, this project will focus on building and incentivizing ethical recruitment practices. GFEMS and IOM will work with private recruitment agencies (PRAs) in Kenya, accredited and certified by the Government of Kenya through the National Employment Agency (NEA), to provide training, tools, and support to shift towards ethical recruitment, using IOM’s International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS).
In addition to general outreach to PRAs, IOM will conduct recruitment integrity training for targeted PRAs annually and provide one-on-one interaction and guidance on a regular basis. These regular interactions and capacity-building initiatives are designed to help PRAs progress towards IRIS certifications as ethical recruiters. By improving ethical business practices, the project also aims to remove exploitative recruitment as a driver of trafficking within Kenya.
To address the enabling environment, GFEMS and IOM will work closely with the Government of Kenya to establish and pilot an oversight mechanism through which illegal or unethical recruitment recruiters can be identified and reported. This mechanism will monitor the Kenyan recruitment industry as a whole and identify PRAs and subagents who expose migrants to the risks of modern slavery. It will also provide a platform for communities to report suspected trafficking cases or PRAs practicing unethically. The Government will publish the list of reported PRAs and information on trafficking to alert migrants of dangerous recruiters and deter unethical practices. Long term, the project aims to reduce cases of migrant worker trafficking by creating demand for ethical recruitment in targeted communities in Kenya.
GFEMS incorporates rigorous learning and evaluation agendas into all of its projects. In our IOM partnership, we will examine the implications of adopting IRIS standards for PRAs in Kenya, work to identify areas that the Government of Kenya can enhance its efforts to monitor recruitment practices, and assess the effectiveness and sustainability of the oversight mechanism.
GFEMS incorporates rigorous learning and evaluation agendas into all of its projects. In our IOM partnership, we will examine the implications of adopting IRIS standards for PRAs in Kenya, work to identify areas that the Government of Kenya can enhance its efforts to monitor recruitment practices, and assess the effectiveness and sustainability of the oversight mechanism.
GFEMS looks forward to providing updates on this project and sharing our learnings with the anti-trafficking community. For updates on this project and others like it, subscribe to our newsletter, or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
This article and the IOM project were funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of State. The opinions, findings and conclusions stated herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of State.