monitoring of the who global code of practice on the international ...

The ILO Decent Work Across Borders (DWAB) project: A Pilot project for Migrant Health Pr<strong>of</strong>essionals
and Skilled Workers, a European Union funded project, seeks to better understand schemes in line
with circular migration <strong>of</strong> health pr<strong>of</strong>essionals. This will be done by engaging governments, trade
unions, and employers organizations around <strong>the</strong> 3 main objectives:
1. To streng<strong>the</strong>n mechanisms <strong>of</strong> policy dialogue among stakeholders
2. To streng<strong>the</strong>n employment services for healthcare pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and skilled workers
3. To enhance labour market information system with regards to <strong>the</strong> migration <strong>of</strong> healthcare
pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and skilled workers
Through this project, <strong>the</strong> ILO seeks to foster an approach to migration that benefits <strong>the</strong> migrant
workers, <strong>the</strong> source and destination countries within a rights-­‐based framework for labour migration
management. The project focuses its activities on three Asian countries with significant outflows <strong>of</strong>
health pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and skilled workers for foreign employment, namely: <strong>the</strong> Philippines, India, and
Viet Nam.
Under <strong>the</strong> DWAB project, <strong>the</strong> ILO is looking at ethical recruitment <strong>practice</strong>s <strong>of</strong> private recruitment
agencies to include and incorporate <strong>the</strong> guidelines on <strong>the</strong> ethical recruitment <strong>of</strong> health care
pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and skilled workers adopted by <strong>the</strong> World Health Organization and provision <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ILO
Convention 181 on Private Employment Agencies as well as <strong>the</strong> ILO Multilateral Framework on labour
migration.
The four partners developed <strong>the</strong> Philippine framework that underlies <strong>the</strong> unique Philippine
approach to <strong>the</strong> <strong>monitoring</strong> process. The Philippine approach (Figure 1) expresses <strong>the</strong>
dynamics <strong>of</strong> institutional collaboration on ethical international recruitment to sustain <strong>the</strong>
local health workforce, to streng<strong>the</strong>n local health systems, and to ensure decent work across
borders among health pr<strong>of</strong>essionals. The DOH and <strong>the</strong> DOLE are at <strong>the</strong> forefront as <strong>the</strong>
responsible government agencies with <strong>the</strong> World Health Organization and <strong>the</strong> International
Labour Organization as members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> United Nations system in charge <strong>of</strong> international
agreements relevant to health personnel migration. Though <strong>the</strong>se organizations have
different core orientations-­‐-­‐ health and labour, <strong>the</strong>ir collaboration is anchored on <strong>the</strong>
common goal <strong>of</strong> ensuring ethical recruitment <strong>of</strong> health personnel.
Considering <strong>the</strong> WHO National Reporting Instrument, and issues <strong>of</strong> its relevance and
appropriateness to <strong>the</strong> unique national situation-­‐-­‐that <strong>of</strong> an exclusively source country-­‐-­‐<strong>the</strong>
partners ventured into <strong>the</strong> preparation <strong>of</strong> a specific Philippine <strong>monitoring</strong> worksheet for
various stakeholders to provide supplementary data and clarificatory statements. This
Philippine <strong>monitoring</strong> worksheet for stakeholders to complete includes <strong>the</strong> WHO National
Reporting Instrument, linked to <strong>the</strong> specific articles <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Code, and 2 additional columns
for stakeholders to add supplementary information, and clarify <strong>the</strong>ir responses.
The term 'multistakeholders' refers to <strong>the</strong> participating organizations that were grouped into
five stakeholder groups, namely:
• government institutions with migration related functions
• hospitals as employers <strong>of</strong> health personnel
• health pr<strong>of</strong>essional associations
• trade unions
• recruitment agencies
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