IOM assists return of Afghan professionals from neighbouring countries

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Ministry of Afghan Diaspora and Experts (MoADE) on Wednesday launched a new stage of the Return of Qualified Afghans (RQA) programme, which will focus on return and recruitment of Afghan experts from neighbouring countries. “Given the enormous need for qualified Afghans to return and to participate in the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts of Afghanistan, the project aims at filling human resource gaps in Afghanistan's public sector, centrally as well as at provincial level,” Richard Scott, chief of IOM’s mission in Afghanistan, told a press briefing in the capital Kabul. Through to the end of 2008, the programme will assist both Afghan public-sector employers in Afghanistan and Afghan specialists living in the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan by facilitating the recruitment of 210 highly qualified Afghan professionals, their return to Afghanistan and their job placements, according to the IOM in Kabul. IOM Kabul will work closely with the Afghan authorities, and particularly with the MoADE, to identify the key sectors and positions that are crucial to the country's reconstruction and sustainable development plans, and that are unable to be filled by nationals already residing in the country. Particular attention will be given to human resources needs in the provinces, Scott added. “This programme is dedicated to boost institutional capacity in the fields crucial for Afghanistan’s development and reconstruction process, especially in its provinces outside of the capital Kabul,” Mangal Hussain, minister at the diaspora ministry, told reporters at Kabul. Afghan professionals currently living in neighbouring countries who are university graduates with documented proof of at least a bachelors’ degree are eligible to apply for this programme, according to the ministry. Afghan public-sector employers in Afghanistan in need of qualified personnel will be able to benefit by receiving staff through this programme. Additionally the participating experts’ salaries will be supported for one year, as well as equipment being provided for their offices. “Each of the male experts returning to the country would be provided with a salary of US $240 per month and each female expert would be provided with $290 a month for the one-year period,” Hussain explained, adding the experts would also be provided with additional money to pay their rent. The IOM started the RQA programmes in 2001. Supporting some of the most crucial fields of redevelopment, to date 753 Afghans have returned to Afghanistan from 29 countries using the programme’s assistance to take up pivotal positions in the public sector, mainly in the Kabul province. The current phase of the programme will focus more on provincial public institutions in other provinces which need qualified personnel. It will assist only those employers across Afghanistan who cannot find qualified staff locally, said Lorena Lando, the IOM programme manager. “Each public-sector employer in Kabul or in the provinces will have to elaborate on why they need employees from abroad and how they are going to use the support of the programme,” the diaspora minister added.