Since the start of the Coronavirus crisis in India, Aide et Action has been supporting migrant workers who are particularly vulnerable. After emergency food relief and advocacy work to defend their rights, our teams are now offering to support them on a daily basis, transforming 19 of our professional training centers into resource and information centers.
To reach the stranded and returnee migrants in both destination and source areas and to support them in their safe return and search for livelihoods, Aide et Action is converting 19 iLEAD skills development centers in India into ‘information centres’ for migrant workers. These information centres will facilitate access to resources and services beneficial for migrant workers. “These 19 information centres are located in the urban & semi-urban areas where the flow of migrant workers is high. We intend to reach out to the migrant workers through our well-established network of over 235,000 marginalized youth trained under iLEAD and other NGO network groups,” said Ravi Pratap Singh, Regional Director – Aide et Action South Asia.
Listen, advise and guide
“Apart from creating awareness on COVID-19 safety measures, the centres will provide immediate relief to the migrant workers and link them to government helplines and entitlements for further support, establish forward and backward linkages with like-minded NGOs/CSOs, provide psychosocial counseling, and facilitate in safe travel of migrants and their families to their destinations. The centres will also create awareness on livelihood opportunities at both source and destination,” Ravi added.
These spaces will benefit from the technical support of the general center of resources and information on migration, the thematic unit of Aide et Action specialized in these questions. To fight the pandemic, our iLEAD teams have already provided emergency support to 95,000 affected people and distributed 125,000 protective masks sewn as part of our professional training program in India and Sri Lanka.