RBA Foundation Midterm Stakeholder Meeting 2022

RBA FOUNDATION MIDTERM STAKEHOLDER MEETING

(By invitation only)

Hybrid Event

May 24, 2022 (9:30am – 1:00pm MYT)

“Promoting safe migration in Malaysia, Nepal and Indonesia through the transformation of recruitment practices and standards in the supply chain”

The Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) Foundation and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Migration Agency, have partnered to promote safe and fair migration in Malaysia, Nepal and Indonesia through the transformation of recruitment practices and standards in labor supply chains. Through their respective programs that promote ethical recruitment, the RBA Foundation and the IOM have identified six key challenges:

The role played by sub-agents and labor recruiters in charging job-seekers excessive fees before they even begin the recruitment process. These job seekers often believe that this is a common and acceptable practice which, in turn, reinforces the exploitation;
Difference in recruitment and employment standards in countries of destination and origin contribute to the challenge of ensuring a safe migration corridor for workers;
The lack of transparency in the fees charged by both countries of origin and destination encourages abuse by various actors involved in the recruitment and placement of migrant workers;
The often cumbersome and lengthy recruitment process deters employers from directly hiring their migrant workers and are often compelled to depend on private recruitment agencies (PRAs) to serve their recruitment needs;
Lack of leverage for certain individual brands to influence their supply chain to adopt responsible recruitment practices due to limited sourcing volume and the disparity of standards with other brands; and
Employers who still perceive responsible recruitment as a compliance requirement rather than a workplace culture that respects the rights of migrant workers.

To address the above identified challenges, the RBA Foundation and IOM will advance the adoption of ethical recruitment practices through various activities in 2021 and 2022 targeted at:

Piloting a pre-employment orientation (PEO) training for prospective migrant workers in Indonesia and Nepal;
Piloting a pre-departure orientation (PDO) training for migrant workers in Indonesia and Nepal;
Piloting a post-arrival orientation (PAO) training for migrant workers in Malaysia;
Expansion of the RBA Foundation’s Suara Kami helpline to prospective migrant workers in Indonesia and Nepal;
Continuation of Phase II of the RBA’s Responsible Recruitment Program (RRP) for PRAs in Indonesia, Nepal and Malaysia; and
Organizing stakeholder engagement and consultation meetings to generate discussion and share lessons learned from the program.

A series of stakeholder outreach virtual events were held in April, 2021 aimed at presenting the program activities to stakeholders in Malaysia, Indonesia and Nepal and providing a platform for collective and constructive engagement to enhance and ensure the smooth implementation of the program and related activities. This midterm meeting seeks to continue the engagement with targeted stakeholders from the private sector (companies and recruitment partners), inter-governmental organizations, local and foreign government officials and civil society organizations that are involved directly in the consultation and implementation of the program.

This meeting will begin with plenary sessions and end with three breakout sessions targeting relevant stakeholders. The plenary sessions are aimed at updating participants on the progress of the program thus far, including a panel discussion to share lessons learned from implementing pilot worker engagement activities in the countries of origin.