The second day of the Global Refugee Labor Mobility Summit continued with all the momentum gathered in Day 1 and provided opportunities for attendees to deepen their conversations and break into topic-specific panels and workshops.

At the top of the agenda there was a celebration of International Women’s Day which hosted a breakfast and a women-led panel discussion which acknowledged the significance of this date from a rights perspective and allowed the panelists to give a personal spin on what it means to be a woman refugee or to work with the wider labor mobility network to improve the lives of women from displaced backgrounds. The panel was moderated by Marina Brizar (TBB), who was joined by Teresa Liu (Fragomen), Cindy Hu (Iress), Lounda Ghawi (TBB), and Agnete Rishoej (Finn Church Aid). 

“We aren’t born with courage. Fearlessness is an exercise… let’s work together to support women around the world and one day we will have a world where women and men are equal,” said Louna Ghawi, TBB ANZ Co-Director

The panel was followed by a future-gazing session led by seven efugee professionals in-person and virtually, discussed the future of labor mobility. The panelists who now reside in countries such as the UK, Canada and Australia, reflected on their own experiences going through migration pathways on the basis of their skills and professional experience. The Summit greatly benefited from learning insights directly from those who have gone or will go through the pathways themselves. The session ended on a positive note as the presenters had already secured durable solutions or were in the process of relocation. However, it raised important areas of work that still need to be fixed in the wider migration system to ensure that displaced labor mobility becomes a reality for all those who need it. 

“My advice to employers is to hire as many stateless and refugee people as you can. You are not just getting them a contract, you’re saving their lives and the lives of their children and children’s children. You have no idea the impact you’re making,’’ said Fadi Chalouhy, TBB Alumni and Board Member

Carrying on with the agenda, attendees were split up into smaller groups to capture the big-picture topics across different topics and regions. The first three sessions were:

• Skilled pathways to North America, Europe and Australia - informative discussion and comparison of pilot programs

• Lessons from the Middle East

• Intersection with Labour Mobility and Other Complementary Pathways

The first series of sessions discussed the challenges and virtues of program scalability across countries and regions while still developing blueprints as innovators in the labor mobility pathways fiel. Other topics discussed were remittances, complementary and hybrid education pathways, as well as family reunification and refugee upskilling.

Additional themes from the sessions included mentions of TBB’s groundbreaking work on labour agreements, country differences between migration systems and learning opportunities from one another, and changing skill assessment practices to also reflect the needs of the employers.

The second block of the day had three panel discussions covering different aspects of the pathway processes of labor mobility, the three sessions led by partners and employers were:

• Strategies to maximize refugee access to labor mobility pathways

• Destination partners - Building the ecosystem: strategy & approaches

• Unlocking language learning and capacity building for refugees to access Labour Mobility

On maximizing refugee access to pathways, speakers highlighted the importance of all efforts being employer-led and refugee-centered to keep refugees’ concerns in mind while always coordinating with the private sector. Other themes discussed amongst panelists were the notion of a no one-size-fits-all approach and there was a good discussion on how pathways need to be tailored to each destination country’s migration system. Finally, the use data for research purposes that drive policy changes was discussed amongst industry experts and complemented by each panelist’s perspective with some exciting commitments made.

On building the partner ecosystem, panelists called attention to the importance of engaging from beginning to end throughout the process (from advocating to government, to recruitment to settlement), and be involved in every stage along with partners, and the need for feedback from the partners and the candidates to inform partnership ways of working.

Additional points discussed were key strategies to find the right partners to deliver the programs with candidate support throughout the different stages in mind, candidate up-skilling and capacity building for refugees, particularly in language skills and learning support through the recruitment process.

‘‘We need to hold employers accountable as well. There should be free-flowing dialogue between the two. We are putting a lot of responsibility on the candidate to come to the employer prepared. We should also be preparing the employer to be ready for this type of initiative,’’ said Sharon Taylor, representing the international employer Animal Logic

The third and final block of Day 2 consisted of three sessions about the development and impact of our programs, including in healthcare, and post-arrival support from employers to candidates. 

Among the main teams was the TBB data collection system, which measures data from every stage of the process, from Talent Catalog sign up to candidates relocated and this information was presented to show attendees how data is gathered and processed to obtain qualitative and quantitative information that can feed the conversations with governments and employers.

On healthcare programs, panelists shared the factors they considered when launching their displaced talent pilots and how to create the wrap-around support their new employees needed, and the staffing onboarding process. Panelists also spoke about how to ensure that programmes will continue after centralized funding dries up; how to empower the local entities to continue to hire displaced talent in a more autonomous way. As mentioned by Rhian Wells from the Department of Health and Social Care England, “we are really proud that the NHS is a destination of choice for overseas staff. However, we are really keen to make sure our process is done ethically and sustainably. We saw the value of displaced talent quite quickly, and this is why we provided funding to support a pilot program.”

When it came to after arrival success, panelists gave an overview of the entire process first (including shortlisting, recruitment, visa application, settlement, and post-arrival), which allowed attendees to learn from the different type of employers TBB works with and the several types of support they have offered to candidates.

Concluding remarks after a succesful Day 2 were delivered by Stephanie Cousins (TBB CEO) and Mustafa Alio, Co-Founder of Jumpstart Refugee Talent, who said “This event was all about challenges, opportunities and actions,” said Stephanie Cousins. A number of attendees joined a round table to discuss concrete actions and learning that they took from the Summit as well as commitments to work on as they return to their work around the world. 

Thank you to all that attended in-person and followed along Day 2 and its motivating sessions. Continue watching this space as we continue to share updated from the 2023 #RefugeeLMSummit.