Education &
Community Engagement
Migrasia was founded by educators. We believe that, with information, problems relating to forced and bonded labor can be a solvable world problem. And many of the current challenges stem from information asymmetry and lack of understanding.
Educating the Community
Both online and in-person, Migrasia is committed to filling information gaps and shortfalls that perpetuate migration challenges.
Based on our research and amplified by our migration support system, the team crafts social media-based information campaigns and targeted resources around pre-departure and destination country resources, accessible messaging regarding relevant laws and news, as well as connections to community resources where migrant workers and their employers can learn from each other. When interactions online lead to case work in our clinic, we further take this opportunity to holistically communicate with all the stakeholders: the migrant workers, family, employers, and government partners. All of this has also contributed to a best practice guide for Employers, which is under development.
We also deliver these learnings in-person in-partnership with EmpowerU, our sister organization dedicated to domestic worker education. This creates a virtual cycle of information sharing, as what we learn in the classrooms we can take back to the migration system, and what we see as trends, dangers, lessons learned from our online interactions, we can use to distill into course material that diffuses throughout the community.
Educating Businesses
As our team consolidates our research, client data, and case experience — and expands our sector focus — Migrasia continues to grow its work with private sector partners.
With our pro bono law firm partners, we are investigating strategic legal questions that impact the lives of our beneficiaries, whether these be the implication of new policy changes or how to explore new ways to operate within existing legal frameworks. The findings are then actioned by our system, shared with partners, and form the basis of training we have with the broader law community, to raise awareness and engage new and motivated volunteers.
With business stakeholders, we are building partnerships with ethical migration intermediaries, supply chain professionals, and corporations. The work ranges from case studies diving into business models and industries that deal with entrenched exploitative practices, training with business leaders on how to recognize and combat labor exploitation as it permeates global business, and partnerships with corporate partners to create more responsible recruitment infrastructure.
Educating Students & Youth
Apart from providing support to clients of the legal clinic, community and education engagements such as the Global Migration Legal Clinic (GMLC) volunteering opportunities and the University of Hong Kong's Impact Lab course allow students to gain important work experience. All students interviewed emphasised how the work they did for Migrasia helped them gain confidence and develop essential client skills which are invaluable in the job market. Interns found that their work either complemented their degree, providing new insights into their subject, or offered them the opportunity to build life skills that their degree does not afford.
Migrasia offers a supportive environment for students to learn and challenge themselves. The learning curve is steep, and students are afforded an unusual degree of freedom to develop themselves and contribute according to their own strengths. In the clinic, the creativity of the organisation also inspired students to think critically and explore alternative remedial pathways and solutions. The Impact Lab course, meanwhile, helped students strengthen their soft skills, leadership skills, and ability to apply their knowledge and competence in a business environment.
Educating Civil Society
Given the complexities of the challenges in migration, Migrasia understands the importance of collaboration and information sharing across the Civil Society. As we continue to build out the Migration Support System and explore how to utilize technology to reach beneficiaries, capture critical data, and amplify our impact, we continue to share our lessons learned — mistakes made, best practices, and how to grow a system that might work for another NGO.
We have conducted training workshops in Hong Kong to share our experience with building out a social media ecosystem, so that it can be adapted to other causes and beneficiary communities. These trainings also include how to work with the information collected from the system, whether for further information campaigns or high-impact enforcement. Currently, we are working with partners across the region on efforts to improve digital marketing among NGOs in this space, to better work through the logistical and systemic challenges present in the lives of our beneficiaries.
Government Collaboration
Engaging government stakeholders has been a critical aspect of our work. Keeping our finger on the pulse of migrant worker communities across the region, we are able to amplify government communications at scale while bringing back to the government what we are learning from their nationals, wherever they are deployed.
Our ongoing dialogue and partnerships have resulted in key enforcement actions, policy updates, and identified trend data being communicated directly to the relevant government actors. Past engagements include those with Hong Kong, Philippine, Indonesian, Myanmar, Polish government agencies among others. In particular, Migrasia led a presentation to the Hong Kong Security Bureau to advocate for better policy around Counter Trafficking-in-Persons in the jurisdiction.