The Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) organized a ceremony to help the returning migrants integrate and become economically self-sufficient by providing toolkits for electricians, plumbers, carpenters, motorcycle mechanics, and masons.

The activity is part of the OPF’s efforts to support returning migrants to make a new start in Pakistan and achieve sustainable employment. OPF is implementing a programme on the economic reintegration of returning Pakistanis in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), said a press release received by WealthPK.

The programme is commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Germany (BMZ) and is part of its support for voluntary return and sustainable reintegration.

A Pakistani-German Facilitation and Reintegration Center (PGFRC) has been established at the OPF premises in Lahore with an advisory desk at the OPF head office in Islamabad. The PGFRC is assisting returning migrants and the local population to have a sustainable source of income, it said.

OPF Director Welfare Syed Mustafa Haider handed over trade-specific toolkits to over 80 returning migrants as in-kind support. These migrants have also completed comprehensive business development training from the PGFRC.

Syed Mustafa said that today’s ceremony is a testament to the commitment of the government, which considers overseas Pakistanis as its roaming ambassadors abroad and is actively engaged in resolving their reintegration issues in Pakistan. Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, through the OPF, is working in a focused manner on this issue, he added.

PGFRC head Dr Mansoor Zaib Khan informed that the center is open to all Pakistanis and all its services are free of charge.

The PGFRC is providing advice on training and skills development, technical and vocational training, job market trends and opportunities, finding a job in Pakistan, and getting microfinance and loans. It also advises on entrepreneurship and start-up support, psychosocial support, information on the health system, and information on living conditions in Pakistan, he added.

He said that more than 800 returning migrants will benefit from this capacity building leading to in-kind support intervention.

A number of Pakistanis migrate abroad to work but at some point in their lives, they return to Pakistan and struggle to re-establish themselves and make a respectable living. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted Pakistanis living in other countries, resulting in huge layoffs and the return and repatriation of tens of thousands of migrants from their intended destinations.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk