Bangkok – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in partnership with Quizrr, a leading digital training solution provider, this week (15 June) launched the Laotian version of the interactive, migrant-friendly online training application, which provides pre-employment and on-the-job app-based learning to migrant workers. 

The app aims to educate both workers and their managers on their basic rights and responsibilities, with a focus on the importance of ethical recruitment, and ways to put these principles into practice.   

In 2019, IOM piloted this application and has received positive responses from both employers and migrant workers. Currently, the online training is being piloted at a Post-Arrival Center for migrant workers in Mae Sot, Tak province as well as 17 factories and training locations across Thailand.  

“Our assessments have found that important information regarding basic labour rights and workplace procedures are often inaccessible to migrant workers. Most migrant workers are unaware of their rights. We hope that this innovative and comprehensive online training will offer greater access to important information for all migrant workers,” said IOM Thailand Chief of Mission Dana Graber Ladek.  

She concluded, “Information is essential to ensuring migrants can better exercise their rights, and access to protection, support and services. Quizrr is a great way to acquire not only information but also soft skills like negotiation and teamwork.” 

Already available in Khmer, Myanmar and Thai—and providing voice support in each language—the app is projected to reach at least 1,000 migrants from Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Myanmar in Thailand during the its initial pilot phase.  

The hour-long training is interactive and contains short films designed to help migrants to easily gain and retain information about their rights and responsibilities, occupational safety and health and workplace dialogue. Workers can quantify their learning by answering questions on the different topics. 

“The application offers an engaging learning module, covering employment practices, workplace policies, workplace dialogue, and management practices. A highlight of the updated version of the app is a new module providing information on COVID-19 in all four languages,” said Sofie Nordström, founder and Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Quizrr, the Sweden-based technology company that developed the learning platform. 
 
She added: “In these uncertain times, information on employment rights and ethical practices is more important than ever. Everyone needs proper knowledge on how to stay safe and healthy, and how to prevent spreading COVID-19. By collaborating with IOM we can add COVID-19 information in the app not only for migrant workers from neighbouring countries in Thailand, but also in China and Bangladesh.”  

Besides benefiting migrants, the application will help employers by providing a dashboard to measure the training results, benchmark performance and take action based on real data disaggregated by gender and nationality. Employers can use this data to arrange for more targeted training to suit the needs of their migrant employees, filling in any information or knowledge gaps according to the training results.  

The application was developed as part of IOM’s Poverty Reduction through Safe Migration, Skills Development and Enhanced Job Placement in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Thailand (PROMISE), a regional programme led by IOM and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The objective of the programme is to define a clear pathway to promote better employment opportunities and working conditions for migrants, especially women from Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar (CLM), through safe migration and skills development in partnership with the private sector, training institutions, civil society and governments. 

Watch video. 

For more information, please contact at IOM Thailand, Sally Barber, Email: sbarber@iom.int or Pukchanok Pattanatabud, Email: ppattanatabu@iom.int