App to help migrant workers launched in Gazipur’s Kaliakair
Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) and partner organisations have introduced a mobile-based app in some areas of Gazipur's Kaliakair upazila, which aims to develop knowledge about safe and orderly migration.
Using the app, SafeStep, migrant workers will be able to digitally store records of their verbal agreements regarding migration, said Akib Anwar, an official of Winrock International.
The app can play an important role in minimising information gaps and ensuring transparency in the labour migration sector, Akib said, while describing its different features during a webinar yesterday.
He added that early stage development of the app started last year.
RMMRU and Winrock jointly organised the webinar on the app's (version-II) demonstration among national-level stakeholders.
Addressing the webinar, RMMRU Executive Director Prof CR Abrar said many problems in the migration sector could be resolved with support of technology, especially by providing information to migrant workers.
Winrock, Elevate Hong Kong Holdings Limited, and Diginex Solutions developed the mobile app to "address information gaps for migrants, facilitate digital documentation for users, and provide an online complaint mechanism", according to organisers. They also designed the project titled "Responsible Recruitment Platform for Safe Migration in Bangladesh (SafeStep)", which has been implemented in the upazila.
RMMRU is implementing the project in four unions of Kaliakair.
Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, owner of recruiting agency Sadia International, hoped that the app will support both service providers and aspirant migrants in recruitment process.
Shahina Ferdousi, deputy secretary of expatriates' welfare ministry, said besides RMMRU and Winrock, the ministry and International Organisation for Migration have also introduced separate migrant-friendly apps.
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