German activities Offering pathways for safe, orderly and regular migration
As part of these efforts the BMZ finances projects for development-oriented labour and educational migration from development cooperation partner countries to Germany or to Europe. German development activities also involve presenting alternatives to irregular migration and enabling informed migration decisions to be made.
Enabling people to make responsible and informed migration decisions
In the German “centres for jobs, migration and reintegration” that have so far been set up in a total of twelve partner countries, people interested in migrating receive information about the requirements and options for regular migration to Germany.
They also learn at the same time about the dangers of irregular migration. This enables them to make responsible and informed migration decisions.
How to make educational and labour migration development oriented
Many young people would like to work in Germany but they are often not aware of the paths for employment migration, and there are certain requirements that must be met. Employers in Germany, meanwhile, are looking abroad to find motivated trainees and skilled workers.
The project Supporting Regular Labour Migration and Mobility between North Africa and Europe has the aim of improving the general framework for regular migration – for example through amendments to regulations in partner countries and through international agreements for fair and ethically responsible recruitment – and also of helping policymakers to improve their migration policies.
The project is supporting the pertinent authorities in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt with a view to assisting them in making labour migration more effective. The knowledge acquired, for example by employment office staff, can also be used to help people find work locally. Thanks to contacts with German partners, they can work in partnership to give shape to labour migration to Germany.
Under this project, up to 600 employees are to be prepared for the German labour market with places being found for them as trainees or employed workers. This will have the added benefit of averting the brain drain of skilled workers and its harmful impacts on development.
The project, which is funded by the EU and the BMZ, is being carried out by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The BMZ is also funding a project aimed at testing partnership-based approaches for development-oriented educational and labour migration with Ecuador, Kosovo, Nigeria and Viet Nam. The intention is to support cooperation between the pertinent players in partner countries and employers in Germany.
As part of these partnerships, models are to be developed and implemented for training trainees, skilled workers and interns and finding places for them in Germany. Simultaneously, the quality of vocational education in these partner countries is to be improved, which will also benefit local labour markets.