Kenya, IOM ink orientation deal for migrant workers
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E-mail Xinhua, August 21, 2012
Kenya, IOM ink orientation deal for migrant workers
NAIROBI, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan government has renewed its commitment to work with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in providing pre-departure orientation for Kenyan migrant workers, the UN migration agency said on Tuesday.
In a statement issued in Nairobi, IOM said it inked the agreement with the Kenyan Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) building on an existing, successful working relationship in facilitating labor exports from Kenya.
"The new agreement between IOM and the YEDF will be funded by the Kenyan government and aims to strengthen the partnership between the two agencies to promote safe migration," the statement said.
The YEDF is a body mandated by the Kenyan government to facilitate international labor exports and targets 6,000 young Kenyans every year.
The IOM migration agency says it had received requests for assistance from the Kenyan authorities to help deal with the management of migration.
IOM said it was helping with the development of national immigration policies to put in place better systems of dealing with migrations.
According to the UN agency, more African migrant workers were moving the continent as opposed to seeking better job opportunities in Europe as widely reported in the media.
World Bank figures show some 30 million Africans moved internationally in search of better jobs or for due to some circumstances as economic refugees in 2011, but two thirds remained within the continent as opposed to moving to Europe.
IOM said the figures showed 64 percent of the movements were mainly within the continent, across the regions.
Kenya in East Africa was the largest recipient of foreign job seekers, while Burkina Faso, in West Africa, and South Africa, were the largest recipients of African migrants.
But in a statement, IOM said it also plans to provide pre- departure health assessments and to coordinate travel arrangements to allow the migrants to benefit from the preferential, negotiated airfares that it receives from most airlines.
IOM has provided pre-departure training to more than 2,700 unskilled and semi-skilled Kenyan migrant workers destined for the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and the Gulf States, since starting to work with YEDF in 2008. Enditem
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