• REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA SUPPORTS RETURNING MIGRANTS

    SMOOTHING SKILLS RECOGNITION FOR PEOPLE WHO WISH TO COME HOME

    WORK ON SKILLS CONTRIBUTES TO MOBILITY PARTNERSHIP

  • Migration is on the increase in the Republic of Moldova; during 1999 just under 100,000 people left the country to work abroad, but by 2005, the total had shot up to just under 400,000. Many may wish to come home after a few years and a new European Training Foundation project is aiming to smooth their path to skills recognition when they do.

    As part of its contribution to the Mobility Partnership between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union, the ETF is working to help these returning migrants get the skills they have acquired abroad recognised when they return home – for their own benefit and for the benefit of the Moldovan economy as a whole.

    For skills to be useful, they have to be easily understood by employers and measurable against national standards. But if people learn these skills in another country or in another context outside of formal education – such as through work or personal experience or both – then recognising those skills becomes a much more complex affair.

    During 2009, the ETF has been tackling this question in two ways. First it has been developing a methodology for assessing the competences of adult workers against European occupational profiles – that is an agreed set of skills needed to do a specific job. In order to do so, the ETF has drawn on its recent experience in Egypt and has adapted its approach to the Moldovan context.

  • Second, it has started working on a methodology for recognising prior learning – learning which has usually been acquired informally either at home or abroad. Getting this far has only been possible with the involvement of, and active contributions from, a wide range of stakeholders from education, the ministries and industry.

    2010 will see the ETF develop more occupational standards with the help of social partners and relevant national institutions (the reference group). The resulting methodologies will then be used in pilot testing of adult workers and returning migrants’ competence, targeting agriculture and construction – two key sectors of the Moldovan economy.

  • This operational work will be complemented by a second focus on policy development, namely designing a system for validating prior learning hand in hand with the Moldovan Government, employers and trades unionists as well as incorporating the results of the work on occupational profiles into Moldova’s adult learning system.

    A special policy dialogue group, comprising representatives from the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family, the National Employment Agency, the Ministry of Education and employers’ associations and trades unions, will tackle the issue of certification. The idea is to look for ways of certification which are flexible enough to encompass non-formal and informal learning. Stakeholders will also discuss the related issues of funding, quality assurance and which institutional arrangements will be needed to oversee this new practice.

  • Making skills recognised, visible and portable should benefit several groups of people – returning migrants whose skills will be valued and people aiming to migrate as making the move with certified skills should encourage them to opt for legal forms of migration and improve their situation while abroad. It will also benefit the Republic of Moldova as a whole by making its labour market more attractive and transparent.

    What is the Mobility Partnership?

    The work of the ETF forms part of a wider EU project – Strengthening Moldova’s capacity to manage labour and return migration – which is currently being coordinated by the Swedish Public Employment Service. All this is taking place under the Mobility Partnership, a new instrument for the joint management of migratory flows which was signed by the Moldovan Government and the European Union in June 2008.

    The Mobility Partnership aims to promote practical improvements which will allow the EU and its partner country to manage migration in a more co-ordinated and responsible fashion. It is striving to provide a more efficient framework for legal migration and for the reintegration of returning migrants by tackling issues such as social protection, border management, remittances and what information is provided to potential and returning migrants. When Moldovan and EC officials and ETF Director Madlen Serban attended a meeting in Brussels last November, they drew some very positive conclusions about the effectiveness of this approach to date. So much so that plans are now afoot to launch a similar partnership with Georgia.

  • by Cristiana Burzio, ETF

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