Main area: Migration
Theme: Labour mobility
Assessment: Partially ODA-eligible
Provider country: Denmark
Recipient country: Jordan
Implementing agency: Talent Beyond Boundaries
Budget (USD million): 1.3
Year(s): 2020-21
Purpose code: 72010
Case number: Migration / 18
Complementary pathways
Unemployment levels in Jordan are high and a minority of refugees are able to secure a legal, decent, sustainable job. Further, the prospects for refugees to achieve one of the three durable solutions is also unreachable for most refugees in Jordan. As part of the burden and responsibility sharing principle Talent Beyond Boundaries are promoting labour mobility as a complementary pathway for refugees, contributing to the objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees and the UNHCR Three-Year Strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (2019-2021). The barriers hindering refugees from seeking employment opportunities in third countries include skills development, English language skills and information about opportunities for labour mobility.
The objective of the project is to enable displacement-affected populations in Jordan to successfully access livelihoods towards a durable solution through skills building and linking refugees to international employment opportunities in third countries. The project will also support advocacy efforts to inform policies and programming towards labour mobility as a durable solution.
The project will provide training and counselling to refugees in Jordan, linking them to potential international employers. For those who obtain a possibility for employment, the project will assist them to prepare for the move (facilitating connections to legal services providers for visas, supporting employers to arrange relocation of the refugee and their family etc.). TBB monitors the refugees and their employers for a year after their arrival in the destination country for evaluation purposes.
Activities oriented towards identifying and enhancing the employability of refugees will take place in Jordan. Activities oriented towards identifying potential employer partners take place outside of Jordan in Australia, Canada and maybe the UK. The Regional Development and Protection Programme for Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq funding is for activities that exclusively support refugees in Jordan to secure a durable solution. While TBB has budgeted to support staffing in Australia and Canada, this staff directly supports refugees in Jordan by securing prospective employers to sponsor the durable solution. According to UNHCR TBB’s efforts to allow refugees from major refugee hosting countries, such as Jordan, to access solutions through labour mobility are critical to easing the pressure on host communities, while building the capacity of local actors.
The project will contribute to refugees’ self-reliance being able to achieve a durable solution in other countries. Further, the project will contribute to the international burden-sharing with Jordan.
This activity is deemed partially ODA-eligible. Expenditures to promote the integration of refugees or migrants into the economy of developed countries do not count as ODA: tertiary education, vocational/professional training, skills development, job programmes, etc. (see the Clarification 4 in the rules on in-donor refugee costs and Criterion 7 on labour mobility). The project includes costs in Jordan to provide training and counselling to refugees, linking them to potential international employers in Australia, Canada and possibly the United Kingdom, which do not count as ODA. The project also includes costs in these provider countries, to identify potential employers, these costs are not eligible either. Should the project include components that aim at the temporary sustenance of refugees in the donor country (food, shelter, training), the rules for in-donor refugee costs apply. Such components could be counted as ODA if separately identifiable.
This work was approved and declassified by the Development Assistance Committee’s Working Party on Development Finance Statistics.
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