Do they get the support they need?

When Rita Begum (not her real name) returned home to Bangladesh, her brother asked her to leave his house. Since she was a widow and had no parents, she had nowhere to go. Homelessness and economic crisis made her helpless.

Before going abroad, Aklima Khatun (not her real name) worked as a security guard at the Cumilla Export Processing Zone. Upon return from abroad, she could not go back to her previous work because of the humiliating behaviour of people in her society. She was seen as a failed migrant and as a woman of loose morality.

The Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) data shows about 100,000 women from Bangladesh go abroad for work every year. But many return home with minimal or no savings.

Some remitted all their earnings for the family back home and others might have experienced abuse and wage theft and returned empty-handed. Regardless of the circumstances of their return, all women migrant workers face socio-economic challenges.

"When I came back from Saudi Arabia, I was a homeless woman," said 35-year-old Rita.

"My brother refused to let me stay in his house, and I had nowhere else to go. I didn't know where to go with my only daughter at that moment. I left my brother's house with the little money I had saved."

Rita had returned to the country during the COVID-19 pandemic after working in Saudi Arabia for one year and four months following an excessive workload which made her physically ill.

Aklima's salary was irregular, so she returned home within a year. After returning to Bangladesh, she was subjected to hurtful remarks by her neighbours.

"In the beginning, even going out of the house became difficult for me. Even though I had experience as a security guard, I was no longer able to find that job."

"I was having a bad time. My husband, a rickshaw-puller, was finding it difficult to feed and educate three children on his income," said 28-year-old Aklima.

Bangladeshi women workers mostly go to the Middle Eastern countries as housemaids. There is no accurate data on how many women workers return from abroad each year.

However, according to airport immigration sources, more than 6,000 women returned from different countries in 2022. Among them, about 4,000 workers returned from Saudi Arabia.

According to the report titled 'Living with Violence: Mental Health Consequences of Women Migrant Workers', about 90 per cent of women migrant domestic workers return home with mental stress, anxiety, depression or critical mental trauma.

The report, prepared by Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP) in December 2021, is based on the experiences of 172 women returnees.

It shows that about 44 per cent had to make do with inadequate food and didn't get enough sleep. As a result, they suffered from various diseases like stomach problems, back pain, etc. Nearly 67 per cent said that they spent days in anxiety because of irregular wages and 61 per cent said that they suffered from physical abuse, bullying and harassment in various forms.

What women need

Upon returning home, women expect supportive behaviour, empathy and understanding from family and society. They want to feel welcome at home.Instead, some women like Rita find that they have no place to call home.

The women interviewed for this report said that they had received rather negative treatment from family and society.

Rita's initial need after returning home was a place to stay. "I expected my brother to receive me well, but I received unkind behaviour."

"All I needed was a place where I could be safe with my daughter, but that didn't happen, I was forced to send my daughter to a madrasa and I took shelter in a neighbour's house."

Rabeya Khatun, another returnee migrant worker, said that she noticed a change in the behaviour of her relatives and neighbours. They didn't want to associate with her and whenever they got a chance, they used abusive words towards her. "I always felt alone, I felt like I couldn't do anything else."

All returnee women also said that they needed work because whatever they had earned abroad was already used up to meet various needs of the family.

Aklima desperately needed work. She reached out to people she knew to look for a job, but no one helped her to find one.

"Even if I had got a job as a cleaner, the situation would have been easier to deal with."

As she was unable to find work, she then sold the few gold ornaments she had. She bought a sewing machine and opened a small shop in the village market in Cumilla.

"Currently, this shop is my only asset. But all my income goes towards the rent of the shop and daily household expenses. I have to pay Tk 5,000 for the rent.

In the off-season the income drops from Tk 15,000 to Tk 6,000, said Aklima, a mother of three daughters.

She has to borrow money from others on those days. As a result, she can't think of expanding the shop now, she added.

Support available from Reintegration Programmes

Psychosocial, financial and social reintegration support is a crucial need for returnee women migrant workers. Many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working with migrants have reintegration support services. The government has also undertaken various initiatives.

A few months ago Aklima received financial management and entrepreneurship training from an organisation. At the end of the training, she was given two sewing machines, which benefitted her a lot, she said.

"I have benefitted from having two sewing machines. But I can't keep all the machines running as I don't have any employees," she said.

"Now I mainly run one machine, my husband helps a bit with the sewing in between driving the rickshaw. If I could make the shop a little bigger, I could hire employees."

Rita also received psychosocial counselling and entrepreneurship training immediately after her return home.

"After counselling, I felt better because I had lost much confidence. I regained my self-confidence and felt that I was not alone anymore, there were many people with me."

However, she is unable to use the skills she learnt.

"I received training on how to account for profit and loss in trade. But I don't have any money to start a business," Rita added.

After divorcing her husband, Rabeya worked in a fishing net factory. But thinking about the future of her only son, she plans to go abroad.

She couldn't stay abroad for long due to illness and returned home in 2017. Rabeya wanted to go to Oman again, but the employer did not take her anymore. Due to her illness, she also could not return to work in the fishing net factory.

Rabeya then received training in financial management along with some women of her village. "I learned a lot of good things in training but can't put them into practice as I haven't got any employment opportunities yet.

Organisations working with women migrant workers say the kind of reintegration services that are available nowreach only a small number of women and they benefit to some extent. But in the real sense, it cannot play a role in bringing long-term changes to the quality of their lives. OKUP has provided reintegration support to more than 15,000 returnee workers most of whom are women.Shakirul Islam, the Chairman of OKUP said that they try to take a holistic approach to reintegration.

A woman faces various problems while staying abroad, so it is necessary to analyse and provide the support that she needs. For example, if a woman comes back sick, she is given medical care and psychosocial counselling.

"One of the most important aspects of reintegration support is to engage them in economic activities. We try to do our best butour initiativesrely on donorfunding."

He added that in most cases funding for reintegration servicesis short-term.Sometimesdonors impose their ideas even though they may not know the local context well. As a result, the returnee workers do not always receive what they need or at the time they need it most.

"Sometimes we try to continue some activities on our own even after the projects end. However, due to funding limitations, we cannot go far," he said.

Mr. Islam gave an example of such a project at Araihazar in Narayanganj district. They started a mini sewing unit with 35 returnee women in 2016 which took up work on order from various cloth traders.

Women's earnings depend on the amount of work they do. Many of them have been able to earn Tk 10,000 -Tk 12,000 per month. Besides, several workers gained experience on working there and got jobs in factories.

It was a three-year project. Later OKUP got another small fund from a donor and tried to run it for a while. Now it has been going on somehow with whatever available support they can give. Currently, 10 to 12 workers can work there regularly.

"We tried to keep it going because the programme was well-designed," the OKUP chairman said adding that if such projects are carried out properly, a significant number of workers can be reintegrated economically and socially.

Sumaiya Islam, executive director of Bangladesh Nari Sramik Kendra (BNSK), said that although counselling and training on financial activities are provided, most of the time the workers cannot find work.

Most of the women from Bangladesh go abroad to work as domestic workers. Domestic work does not pay well in Bangladesh.

"Reintegration services give them training to start small businesses. A small amount of seed money or some equipment like a sewing machine is given to a woman. A woman worker cannot change her economic condition with such meagre assistance."

She emphasised that the reintegration services should aim to achieve long-term results.

Government Initiatives

The Wage Earners' Welfare Board has undertaken a first-of-its-kind reintegration programme for returnee migrant workers called 'Recovery and Advancement of Informal Sector Employment (RAISE). It is the largest reintegration programme in Bangladesh, so far.

The three-year-longproject will cost Tk 4.27 billion of which Tk 23 million will be given by the government and the rest will be given by the World Bank. It will support 200,000 workers who returned during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, due to the late start of the project, a proposal has been made to the Planning Commission to extend the project period by one year. The project started in June 2021 and its duration is until June 2024.

Project Director Sourendra Nath Saha said that they had started the registration, and about 53,000 workers including nearly 3,000 women had so far registered.

Opportunities for skills training and employment will be created under this programme through the referral system. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) will manage this initiative in collaboration with seven NGOs.

A total of 23500 people who have returned with work experience from different countries but do not have formal education or recognition will be given skill certificates under the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) initiative. A cash incentive of Tk 13,500 will also be provided to each worker.

Mr. Saha said that they were also thinking about bringing the workers who had returned since 2015 under the support services.

"Even after the closure of the project, its activities will be continued by the welfare board."

When asked, he said that at this moment they could not say how many people would get employment opportunities through the programme. "We hope that all of them will get priority in receiving services wherever they go as RAISE beneficiaries, which will help them get jobs."

WARBE Development Foundation is one of the implementing partners of the project. Its director Jasiya Khatoon said that there were challenges in creating employment opportunities through the referral system. Because all organisations might not have the same capabilities, and the services of some organisations might not be migrant worker-friendly.

She felt that the government should create a viable referral mechanism.

A national policy underway to support returnees

The government has drafted a reintegration policy that has recently been sent to the law ministry for vetting.

According to the latest draft, one-stop centres at the local level will be created for all migrant workers including women and gender-diverse groups. These centres will help workers get need-based services through the referral mechanism.

The government will work to give the returnee workers, especially women workers, the recognition they deserve in society. Issues of social security, access to justice and enhancement of social assistance, are also mentioned in the draft policy.

The government will create a returnee migrant database containing the necessary information to bring them under policy support.

Dr Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, senior secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, said that the policy was aimed at sustainable reintegration through coordination with all organisations working with migrant workers.

Women's issues were prioritised in the policy, he mentioned.

"Hopefully, the policy will be formulated within the next two months."

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