OKUP Migrant Forum – Self-sustaining migrants’ platform

To bring migrants’ voices and perspectives to the policy advocacy and the sustainability of the project interventions, OKUP started organizing the returnee migrant workers and their families in 2014 under the banner named ‘Migrant Forum’. Over the years, around 100 Migrant Forums with memberships of around 3,000 migrants and their families have been established in the OKUP project areas including Cumilla, Narsingdi, Munshigonj, Narayangonj, and Faridpur districts. 

Our continuous support to enhance their capacity and engage them in various activities made the Migrant Forums the community-led voluntary platform for the migrants and their communities to provide information, assistance, and referrals. They work as ‘peer counselors’ to provide basic psychosocial counseling to the vulnerable returnees particularly women and their families contributing to reducing stigma and discrimination attached to women returnee migrants. 

The Migrant Forums have increased their visibility and recognition as ‘self-help’ groups among the key stakeholders.  During the last four years, they helped around 800 returnee migrants access skill training and get loans of around three million Taka provided by different government departments at the upazila and district levels.