IOM + Labor Solutions Partner to Design a Labor Migration + Responsible Business eLearning Course

Leading industry experts, IOM, and Labor Solutions collaborate to design and develop a 1-hour eLearning to support businesses in Viet Nam enhance and uphold the human rights of migrant workers and address risks of trafficking and forced labor.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of responsible business practices. It is important now more than ever, for businesses to ensure that their operations have a positive impact on people, the planet and prosperity to build back better.

IOM Viet Nam and Labor Solutions are collaborating to design and develop an eLearning course on Labor Migration and Responsible Business Practices in Viet Nam. The objective of the course is to support companies to enhance business capacity to uphold the human rights of migrant workers and address risks of human trafficking and forced labor in operations and supply chains. It also shares relevant international standards and applicable legal frameworks.

Responsible business practices have increasing implications for Viet Nam, due to the country’s economic growth and the two ratified free trade agreements covering trade, sustainable development, labor and the environment. For this reason, it is important to support businesses and guidance on measures to take in order to adhere to, and comply with international standards on business and human rights.

"The recent expansion of transnational production networks of multinational companies to Viet Nam has not only offered business opportunities but also required business in Viet Nam to be proactive in ensuring business ethics, due diligence and social responsibility" said Miah Park, Chief of Mission, IOM Viet Nam. She continued "IOM works with businesses to provide tailored and customized training programs and practical tools to promote sustainable solutions for ethical recruitment and fair labor"

"This is an important collaboration for us as many of our clients’ operate from and in Viet Nam. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with IOM in delivering key information and support for our clients, and other businesses in the country, to further advance human rights and labor rights throughout their operations” said Labor Solutions' CEO, Elena Fanjul-Debnam.

The interactive and self-paced eLearning course is designed for business managers, compliance officers, human resources staff, and trade union leaders. It will include gamifications, test your knowledge exercises and downloadable action plans. The course will take approximately one hour to complete and will be available for FREE on IOM’s E-Campus at the end of Q4 2021.

The course will cover:

• Introduction to responsible business practices

• Understanding forced labor and human trafficking

• Vulnerabilities of different groups of workers, including migrant workers, to forced labor and human trafficking

• What can business do to identify and address the risks of forced labor and human trafficking?

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), as the leading organization for migration in the United Nations, has a global presence with 174 Member States, offices in more than 100 countries and over 70 years of dedicated experience working with governments, civil society and the private sector to promote orderly and well managed migration. IOM has pioneered and successfully tested innovative strategies and tools to support businesses and their suppliers to address the risks of human trafficking and forced labor in operations and supply chains. Under its private sector partnership programme Corporate Responsibility in Eliminating Slavery and Trafficking (CREST) IOM has been working with businesses to effect market change by increasing the demand for and supply of ethical recruitment services in line with international ethical recruitment standards.

Labor Solutions, a social enterprise, leverages technology to engage and educate workers throughout supply chains. Over a million workers in 25 countries have access to Labor Solutions’ elearning platform, WOVO. The Labor Solutions team will digitize the content and focus on strategic deployment and implementation to ensure as many workers as possible are able to access the safety elearnings.

The course will be piloted with businesses in Viet Nam in November 2021. Please reach out to Ms. Nguyen Thi Bao Chau, Project Assistant at IOM, email: thibnguyen@iom.int if you’d like to take part in the pilot.

Together with IOM, Labor Solutions invites you to join this training and share it with your network!