RMMRU organized a day long workshop for the District Employment and Manpower Officials (DEMO) on 29th April, 2010 in Dhaka entitled “Better Governance of Labour Migration: Capacity Building of District Employment and Manpower Officials’’ in collaboration with the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET). The objective of the workshop was to help decentralise BMET functions by increasing the capacity of DEMO officials to provide better services to migrants and their families at the grassroots and building bridge among Migrants’ Rights Protection Committees, DEMOs and Partner NGOs.

The workshop was attended by representatives of all 42 DEMOs of the country. The Chief Guest of the occasion was Dr. Zafar Ahmed Khan, the Secretary of Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment. He focused on the need for an updated database to modernise the District Employment and Manpower Offices (DEMO). He stated that DEMO officials should encourage migrants to make all kinds of monetary transactions through banking channel. Pro-active engagement of the DEMOs is critical for the reduction of fraudulent practices in this sector, he noted.

Mr. Khorshed Alam Chowdhury, the Director General of the BMET was present as the Special Guest and keynote speaker. He asked DEMO officials to be acquainted with the migration related laws and implement them for the benefit of migrant workers. He emphasized on field based research and updated database to make DEMO and BMET more migrant friendly.

Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui, Chair of RMMRU, underscored the need for effective cooperation between government and the civil society organizations at the grassroots. She stated that coordination between government agencies is a pre-requisite for rendering quality services to the migrants.

Among others, Begum Shamsun Nahar, Joint Secretary and Mr. Kazi Abul Kalam, Deputy Secretary of Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, Dr. Nurul Islam and Mr. Selim Reza, Directors of BMET and Dr. C R Abrar of the University of Dhaka participated in the sessions.

Participating DEMO officials were given particular tasks to complete in their group activities. They identified important functions of DEMO officials, reflected on the Overseas Employment Policy and the Emigration Ordinance, 1982, prepared a one year action plan of DEMO and developed messages for branding DEMO. Two best groups were rewarded for their performance by the Joint Secretary, Begum Shamsun Nahar. Addressing the participants in the concluding session the Joint Secretary told she was delighted to be present in the workshop with all DEMO officials. She highly applauded the effort of RMMRU and suggested DEMO officials to work more efficiently for migrants and their families.

The programme was held under its Migrants Rights to Information and Services (MRIS) project supported by Manusher Jonno Foundation.