On September 9, The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Turkey held a need analysis meeting within the scope of the “Public-Private Partnerships (PPP): Facilitating Legal Pathways for the International Labour Force in Turkey” project.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss a possible outline of the “Career Guidance for Migrants and Adaptation to the Labour Market” training, which is planned to be held in Antalya, in the second half of October. The project is funded by the United Kingdom and implemented by IOM Turkey in close cooperation with Turkey’s Ministry of Labour and Social Security- Directorate General of International Labour Force (DGILF).

Besides the IOM and DGILF officials, vocational counsellors at Migrant Community/Migrant Services centres within the related municipalities, representatives from Vocational Qualification Authority (VQA) and academics also attended the meeting. The job and vocational counsellors working at the Migrant Centers are front-liners, which makes their voice essential and helpful to shape the training agenda and maximize its value. During the meeting, they expressed their expectations from the training and shared about difficulties they have faced in the field.

The PPP project is based on many years of experience of IOM Turkey and DGILF. The partners aim to facilitate dialogue between public and private partners to promote regular labour migration, including regularisation of existing migrant workers in employment; mitigate risks stemming from informal employment practices; increase inter-institutional cooperation related to sustainable labour market integration of migrants with diverse status, and enhance preventive labour inspection guidance practices for migrant workers.

Therefore, the UK funded project will build upon previous efforts of IOM and DGILF in developing a comprehensive labour migration management system in line with the national framework.