Capacity Building

Across economies and jurisdictions, levels of awareness and commitment to ethical recruitment remain relatively low. To address this, IOM provides tailored programs for recruitment agencies, employers, policymakers and civil society with the goal of enhancing understanding, commitment, action and impact through solutions-oriented interventions.  

Activities are adapted to meet local needs, thematic priorities and levels of awareness, and include global and regional webinars; in-person awareness sessions; and modular, classroom-based learning. Resources such as policies, guidance material, e-learning modules and toolkits are also available. To enhance reach and impact, these resources and interventions are implemented in partnership with industry associations, governments at national and sub-national levels, companies and civil society organisations.  

Specific target groups include: 

I. Labour recruiters: The IRIS Capacity Building Programme (CBP) for Labour Recruiters supports international labour recruiters that are committed to ethical recruitment and interested in pursuing IRIS Certification.  

The CBP is divided into the following four steps:  

  • Entry Level: Awareness Building 
  • Level 1: Gap Analysis 
  • Level 2: System Design, Building and Implementation 
  • Level 3: System Validation 

The program is designed to give recruiters recognition as they advance through levels and tiers, putting in place a management system that is tailor made to IRIS requirements.  

More than 600 labour recruiters from 25 countries across several regions have attended the two-day IRIS introductory training, with a steady stream of recruiters signing up to participate in further capacity building.  

II. Employers, suppliers and brands: In recent years, a growing number of companies have adopted the Employer Pays Principle and reached out to IRIS to identify, capacitate and engage with ethical recruiters. 

The training for employers is designed to help companies identify ethical labour recruiters and align business practices to the IRIS Standard. This includes support in adopting and implementing industry principles on forced labour, for example those adopted by the consumer goods, hospitality and apparel industries. 

If you are interested to learn more about employer training, please follow the link here.

III. Government entities: IRIS provides a range of capacity building tools and support to government entities interested in aligning policies, regulations and practices with international ethical recruitment standards. 

IRIS government training  is based on the Montreal Recommendations on Recruitment and aligned with existing IOM training on labour mobility. The program is modular with sessions relevant to:  

  • Policymakers,  
  • Licensing authorities,  
  • Regulators,  
  • Inspection and enforcement authorities,  
  • Labour attachés and other entities involved in facilitation of international recruitment.  

Governments are also encouraged to refer the IRIS Handbook for Governments on Ethical Recruitment and Migrant Worker Protection for detailed guidance. If you are interested to learn more about how IRIS works with governments please follow the link here.

V. Civil society: IRIS pilots comprehensive training programmes for migrants that involve pre-departure, post-arrival, employment, cultural and pre-return orientation. 

For civil society organizations, we organize training on specific issues related to recruitment of migrant workers, designed to connect CSOs in origin and destination countries that are involved in community outreach, awareness building, and pre-employment orientation sessions, as well as migrant support and migrant rights organizations. The training builds on the existing experiences of CSOs in assisting migrant workers, reinforcing this with a focus on ethical recruitment.  

IV. Social auditors: IRIS also provides a comprehensive 5-day course for social auditors, covering ethical recruitment, the IRIS Standard, IRIS Certification, and the IRIS audit methodology.  Successful completion of this course is a pre-requisite to becoming an approved IRIS auditor.