The ILO officially launched its pioneering STREAM Programme at a high-level side event, "From origin to destination" at the Second World Summit for Social Development, held earlier this month in Doha, Qatar.
Implemented with funding from and in partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Foreign Policy Instrument of the European Union and the Ford Foundation, STREAM ("Extending Social Protection to Migrant Workers and their Families in the South Asia-Gulf Corridor") advances inclusive, gender-responsive and rights-based social protection coverage for migrant workers. The multi-partner development cooperation initiative covers all six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the Arab region, and four countries in South Asia: Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India.
Migrant workers make up between 76 and 95 per cent of the workforce in GCC countries. Many are from Asia, especially South Asia. They contribute greatly to economic development, both in their countries of origin and in the destination countries in which they work. Although important changes in social protection policies and systems are underway on both ends of the South Asia-Gulf labour migration corridor, migrant workers often struggle to access basic protections like healthcare, maternity benefits, unemployment insurance, or compensation for workplace injuries.
The four-year STREAM Programme builds upon global commitments to extend fundamental social protection rights and address challenges faced by one of the world's largest migrant populations. It aims to create a world where every migrant worker enjoys effective access to the right to social protection.
Representing the STREAM Programme's partners at the launch event, H.E. Valérie Berset Bircher, State Secretary for Economic Affairs (SECO) of the Government of Switzerland, emphasized the importance of social protection for fair labour migration. "We see access to social protection as a human right that protects migrant workers and their families, who are often excluded by legal, administrative and practical barriers," she said. "Unique initiatives such as STREAM will support and help amplify efforts to include migrant workers in social protection instruments, both in terms of inclusive and non-discriminatory legal frameworks, and the better application of these frameworks."
STREAM advances a vision of inclusive protection, emphasizing the importance of collaboration across borders to make these principles a reality. "We are witnessing remarkable progress in social and labour reforms across the GCC," said H.E. Cristian Tudor, Ambassador of the European Union to the State of Qatar. "Our collaboration with the region is moving to a more strategic level, one that goes beyond dialogue to building lasting partnerships for fair migration, decent work, and social protection for all workers along the South Asia-Gulf corridor. STREAM represents exactly the kind of multilateral cooperation that can turn shared commitments into tangible results for people," she said.
Throughout the side event, participants highlighted the need for cross-regional knowledge exchange and alignment with international standards. "Our fruitful collaboration with international organizations, such as the International Labour Organization, and our joint initiatives - such as the STREAM project to enhance labour mobility governance - are prime examples of capacity building and harmonizing concepts in line with best practices," said H.E. Mohammed bin Hassan Al-Obaidly, Director General of the Executive Bureau of the GCC Council of Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs.
Building on this perspective of collective action and shared responsibility, partners stressed the centrality of rights and inclusion in shaping social protection systems that leave no worker behind. "The STREAM Programme's focus on inclusive, gender-responsive, and rights-based social protections - and its mission to ensure migrant workers have a genuine voice in shaping those policies - is a crucial step toward securing the dignity and economic security of the world's most vulnerable and essential workforce," said Ghada Abdel Tawab, Global Senior Program Officer at the Future of Workers Program of the Ford Foundation.
The ILO's Strategy on Extending Social Protection to Migrant Workers, Refugees and their Families highlights that both origin and destination countries have pivotal roles to play in reforming laws, enabling access, negotiating bilateral agreements, and expanding protections to ensure that migrant workers live and work with dignity.
Shahra Razavi, Director of the ILO's Universal Social Protection Department, emphasized the innovation required to realize this vision: "From the earliest Conventions on equality of treatment and maintenance of social security rights, the ILO has affirmed that all workers must be protected against the basic risks of life. Yet, a century later, progress has been uneven. STREAM marks a new generation of cooperation bringing together governments, employers and the private sector, workers, civil society and development partners to create inclusive, gender-responsive and portable social protection systems along the South Asia-Gulf corridor," Razavi said.
The STREAM Programme aims to foster long-term change, strengthen institutions, and build resilient social protection systems that uphold the rights and dignity of migrant workers and their families. The programme adopts a gender-transformative approach to address structural gender inequalities and barriers in social protection systems affecting migrant workers, particularly women and marginalized groups.
Specifically, the STREAM Programme seeks to contribute to the realization of the right to social protection for migrant workers and their families by:
- Promoting inclusive and gender-responsive legal and policy frameworks that ensure access to social protection for migrant workers across the migration cycle, in line with international labour standards and human rights principles.
- Strengthening the design, financing and administration of national social protection systems to facilitate the inclusion of migrant workers in social protection schemes, with a focus on the portability and continuity of benefits across borders.
- Enhancing the effective access of migrant workers and their families to social protection benefits through simplified administrative procedures, improved awareness, grievance mechanisms and coordinated service delivery.
- Fostering cross-border and regional cooperation between countries of origin and destination to support bilateral and multilateral arrangements that ensure the transferability and sustainability of social protection entitlements.
- Empowering institutions, social partners and civil society actors to engage in evidence-based dialogue, policy development and monitoring to ensure that the voices and needs of migrant workers, particularly of women, are reflected in social protection reforms.
