Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) on Tuesday informed that it would facilitate migrants for technical and economic complications being faced by them on their return home after compilation of their data under its recently launched pilot project of Facilitation & Reintegration Centre (FRC) for returnees.

Talking to reporters, OPF’s Additional Director Mustafa Haider said there was no available data of migrants that was imperative to reintegrate and assist the workers in finding jobs at home and abroad.

“The pilot project consists of two phases and first phase with duration of six weeks solely focuses on preparatory work, besides, our department will compile and share the data of all migrant workers with all relevant institutions,” he added.

The consultant would execute the project’s action plan after consultation with the department in its second phase having duration of three months, he informed.

FRC was aimed to facilitate and guide the returnees for employment and establishing business in the country and abroad but not for any financial assistance, he explained.

He said the department would refer the intending skilled repatriate to National Education Foundation for the enhancement of their skills and later disseminated their information and enhanced capability level in other countries through overseas employment promoter recommended by Bureau of Emigration.

OPF would help the other semi-skilled and non-skilled migrated workers in getting micro-finance loans from private banks to start a business in Pakistan, he added.

“Short & Medium Enterprises Development Authority will provide the business development services to returnees willing to start business on their own,” he said.

The project was, he said, the extension of OPF’s earlier project of Rehabilitation Programme for Migrants that was only aimed at facilitating the families of returnees with some financial assistance who were either died or return to the countries with physical disability.

The department would hire a consultant for short term, had a great experience in rehabilitation of returnee, to develop a strategy to oversee and achieve desire results from the pilot project, he said. He would also watch over the project to make it successive and effective by formulating the policies for provision of reintegration services to overseas Pakistanis and would also give his feedback throughout the trial project, he added.

He said consultant would review the success of project and take some corrective measures for the hurdles come into way of the initiative, accordingly.

He said that OPF felt necessitate to launch this project after about 4.5 million foreign workforce was affected in the wake of economic shifts in GCC since 2015.

He said the department had requested to the Pakistani embassies for sensitising the overseas nationals on this count and would also install the awareness desk in coming days.

Published in Daily Times, April 26^th 2018.