A 9:1 Return on Investment: Why Donors Should Invest in Skills Before Migration

Many donors are investing in programmes to make labour migration safer, more regular, and more beneficial. In this blog, we argue that they should be providing prospective migrants with technical training coupled with internationally recognized qualifications: a proven model to maximize incomes and development impact.

Upstream technical training is a missing investment

About 40 percent of labour migration is made up of workers moving between low- and middle-income countries, and from those countries to those in the Gulf. Their work is often characterized by high levels of informality; low wages; as well as exploitation and protection issues. In order to address these issues, high-income country donors such as Switzerland, Sweden, the UK, and Germany have invested in projects aiming to make migration:

1. Safer. Donors invest in improving migration governance, protecting migrants, and promoting fair recruitment.For example, the UK’s £30 million “Better Regional Migration Management” (BRRM) programme in the East and Horn of Africa; the US$16 million intra-African “Joint Labour Migration Programme” (JLMP); and the Swiss-supported “Governance of Labour Migration in South and South-East Asia” (GOALS) programme.
2. Fairer for workers. Donors often support the implementation of the two main global instruments—the ILO’s Fair Recruitment Initiative (FRI) and IOM’s International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS)—which help strengthen labour rights and fair recruitment regulations. They also aim to support the expansion of social protection systems e.g., the “Extending Social Protection to Migrant Workers and Their Families in the South Asia-Gulf Corridor” (STREAM) programme, supported by Switzerland.
3. Make better use of migrants’ skills. Donors often work to ensure that skills and qualifications are recognized across borders, to prevent un- and under-employment. The BRMM, JLMP, and GOALS programmes all include efforts to develop mutual recognition frameworks, support recognition of prior learning, and produce occupational profiles to support qualification and skill recognition.
4. Deliver development benefits. Donors ensure migrants can send money home (remittances); help returning migrants put the skills they gained abroad to use; and support their reintegration. For example,Sweden, the UK, and Germany have all invested in digital financial inclusion programmes to bring down the cost of remittances, as well as conducted general lobbying at the global level to influence the largest remittance providers.

We believe that programming on pillars 3 and 4 remains undeveloped. This is an employment issue: evidence suggests that under-employment levels among migrant workers are high. Migrants are often trapped in roles far below their skill level, or in unrelated sectors. This reduces wages and potential remittances, thereby reducing the benefits of migration on economic development. It also impacts employers; as many have to expend time and money to upskill workers after they arrive.

It’s also a protection issue. When workers arrive without recognized or adequate skills, they may be channelled into lower-paid roles; become more dependent on employers; and have less bargaining power, increasing vulnerability to abuses such as wage withholding or contract substitution.

Donors have supported elements of skills development for migrant workers, but they tend to emphasise pre‑departure orientation, skills recognition, and employability. There are comparatively few programmes that provide prospective migrants with technical training—and crucially, internationally recognised qualifications—for jobs that are in demand in countries of destination. One of the few examples is the “Safer Migration Programme” (SaMi).

A case study: the SaMi programme in Nepal

Funded by the Swiss, SaMi has been implemented by Helvetas in Nepal since 2011. SaMi achieved impressive results at a very small cost. As Table 1 shows, the total cost of the technical training was NPR 48,900 (excluding VAT), of which SaMi contributed NPR 28,900 and the worker contributed NPR 20,000. For the workers themselves, this cost would be covered after only three months of working. For the Swiss, this only cost approximately €140,000, yet provide over €1.2 million worth of income gains.

Table 1. Investing in upstream hard skills training had a high leverage ratio

So how did SaMi achieve this? For the first three phases of the programme, SaMi provided one-month skill training courses for potential migrant workers. The aim was to ensure that workers migrated with relevant technical skills as well as sufficient knowledge to make safe and informed employment decisions abroad. In addition, SaMi facilitated skill testing in selected trades through the Nepalese National Skill Testing Board to certify the competencies acquired by trainees.

Thanks to these programmes, around 40 percent of trained graduates secured employment in the same occupations, particularly in Gulf countries. In some cases, they enabled workers to migrate under fair recruitment provisions, meaning they did not have to pay recruitment fees—this was especially evident in the Garment Machine Operator sector for Jordan. However, the lack of certification recognition hindered access to better jobs, increased recruitment costs, and reduced overall earning potential for migrant workers.

To address this challenge, SaMi piloted an international certification initiative in the scaffolder occupation in partnership with the UK’s Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme (CISRS). An internal tracer study found four positive impacts.

1. Increased number of people able to secure foreign employment in the same occupation (scaffolding): 86 percent in the first year, and 84 percent in the second (we don’t yet have results for the third cohort) (Figure 1). This is over double the rate of those receiving the one-month course.

Figure 1. Investing in upstream hard skills training increased the percentage of workers who were able to secure employment in the same occupation

2. Lower migration costs: around 22 percent of participants were able to secure foreign employment at zero recruitment costs, while approximately 50 percent obtained jobs with recruitment costs of up to NPR 40,000 (€233)—substantially less than the average recruitment cost (NPR 100,00+).
3. Increased earnings: workers were also able to earn an additional NPR 6,979 per month (the average basic monthly salary was NPR 49,261). Approximately, this would result in an additional NPR 250,000 over the course of a three-year contract.
4. Increased safety at work: As CISRS is an internationally recognized certification, it places a strong emphasis on occupational safety and health. Notably, SaMi has not recorded any major workplace incidents involving trained graduates in countries of destination during their employment.

How to achieve high returns

High-income country donors such as Switzerland, Sweden, the UK, and Germany should therefore do two things. Firstly, support pre-departure technical training that delivers industry-relevant and certified skills. This would improve initial job matching, raise wages, and reduce time spent on costly in-country upskilling—while also strengthening worker agency and resilience.

Secondly, improve the coherence and credibility of technical training systems in countries of origin. In many countries of origin, technical training systems do not produce high-quality graduates and are not well linked to industry needs. This undermines employer trust in credentials, limiting their value in labour markets in countries of destination. Strengthening technical training systems to deliver credible, industry-recognised qualifications is therefore central.

Ensuring workers arrive with the requisite skills to contribute upon arrival would maximise the development impact of South-South labour migration—ensuring they earned the relevant salary, contributed maximum remittances, encouraged integration, supported skills development for reintegration. The SaMi programme demonstrates just how high these returns can be.