Better Together: Why partnerships are critical to labour mobility
From its earliest days, Talent Beyond Boundaries has collaborated with like-minded organizations to realize a shared vision - a world where displaced people can use their own skills to build their own futures.
Our first job matches were made possible by local partners who helped identify candidates, UN and government agencies who supported the migration process, and employers who were willing to go out on a limb to test a very novel - and sometimes controversial - idea.
Fast forward five years, and we can see how partnerships of all types are making it possible to scale labour mobility as a new and additional solution to the global refugee crisis. Some 200 employers have now issued offers to TBB candidates, enabling more than 1,300 people to move to safety. A wide range of companies share their business resources and expertise, while countless refugee service organizations support successful candidates and their families as they relocate internationally and settle into their adopted communities.
When a TBB staff member describes our growing impact, you’ll often hear them refer to our “managing partners” - those organizations that work closely with TBB to conduct recruitment activities directly in either “source” or “destination” countries, dramatically extending our reach and enabling us to access vital employer and candidate networks.
One of our proudest achievements at TBB has been the establishment of an intensive capacity-building program that empowers partners working directly with displaced individuals to replicate and adapt the model that TBB initially pioneered in the Middle East. We now have managing partners in Asia, East Africa and Latin America actively cultivating new talent pools. The first partner-supported job offer through the capacity-building program landed in January 2023; by December, managing partners in countries of first asylum were already generating 22 percent of all TBB job matches globally, including our first offers for candidates living in India and Peru.
As impressive as these numbers are, however, they don’t tell the whole story. Partnerships make it possible for more people to benefit from more solutions - but they also improve the quality of our collective work every day. Because they are often closest to our key audiences - candidates and employers - partners have unique insights into what makes this solution “tick,” as well as the credibility necessary to build trusted relationships within local communities. At TBB, we are continuously working on collating and sharing this knowledge, recognizing that labour mobility is still a nascent field and the model benefits tremendously from an iterative process.
TBB’s pledge at the Global Refugee Forum includes a commitment to train at least 24 managing partners in source and destination countries by 2027. With 13 partners already on board, we’re more than halfway there, but we know that every additional partner will add much-needed wisdom, capacity and perspective to a rapidly evolving movement. If your organization is positioned to contribute to this work, please join us.