More Than 1,000 State Employment Centre Employees Better Equipped to Assist with Migration Queries

Ukraine, December 11, 2007 - More than 1,000 State Employment Center (SES) employees received training and essential information on migration to incorporate into their work with clients through the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Capacity Building in Migration Management Programme and the International Labour Organization Anti-Trafficking Programme in Ukraine.

In October 2006, IOM joined efforts with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and developed a comprehensive training programme for SES employees. In the following months, IOM collaborated with partner NGOs and the State Employment Service of Ukraine (SES) and its branches in seven oblasts of Ukraine (Donetska, Khersonska, Kirovogradska, Lvivska, Ternopilska, Vinnytska, and Zakarpatska) to organize more than 70 trainings to build skills of SES experts to better respond to migration queries, while ILO provided similar trainings for trainers from 12 oblasts (AR Crimea, Poltavska, Rivnenska, Zhytomyrska, Sumska, Zaporizka, Mykolayivksa, Khersonska, Luganska, Kyviska, Cherkaska, Chernigivska). Supported by the European Commission (EC), the project was conducted over the period March - November 2007.

Highly-qualified members of IOM Kyiv's NGO partnership network and representatives of IOM's Centres for Migrant Advice (CMAs) conducted training sessions for SES specialists in all of the aforementioned oblasts on such topics as preventing fraud in the field of migration, promoting legal labour migration and preventing trafficking in human beings. These NGOs have also been designated to serve as referral and resource centres for trained SES specialists seeking assistance in the field of migrant advice. In this respect, the project has paved the way for future cooperation between local SES offices and their NGO counterparts in providing reliable and exhaustive information to potential migrants. In order to ensure the sustainability of this project within the NGO sector, IOM and CMAs will be providing ongoing support to their NGO partners to continue to build their capacity.

Partnering with the SES and its regional and local centres has also been fruitful for IOM and its team of NGOs; these organizations have received a wealth of information and knowledge that they can share with potential migrants on opportunities that exist inside Ukraine as an alternative to going abroad.

On December 11-12, 2007, representatives of SES, partner NGOs, IOM and the ILO will convene once again at a conference in Kyiv to discuss and evaluate the results of the partnership. A manual on preventing irregular migration, human trafficking and child labour for SES employees will be also presented at the occasion. As a result of the project, the SES is expected to include consultations on labour migration issues into their specialists' official duties beginning in 2008.

To receive more detailed information about the initiative please contact the IOM Kyiv Public Information Office at 380 44-568 50 15 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

About CMAs

Within the EC TACIS-funded project Capacity Building of Migration Management, phase I and II, IOM has supported local NGOs to establish and operate five Centres for Migrant Advice (CMAs) in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa and Ternopil. The CMAs provide free confidential advice on the realities and legal possibilities of working, studying and living abroad, as well as on necessary precautions. Since their inception in the fall of 2005, the CMAs have provided consulting services to more than 25,000 clients.