The government has started internal preparations to send a few hundred Nepali caregivers to Israel as a ‘pilot project’ to assess the viability of the proposed government-to-government recruitment system that the two countries reached an understanding on earlier. There has not been any formal agreement on the understanding so far.

Israel, one of the most sought destinations for Nepali caregivers, has not hired Nepali caregivers through recruitment agencies since April 2009 citing huge irregularities in the recruitment system of the foreign employment agencies.

According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE), the Israeli side has shown willingness to take a few hundred caregivers from Nepal as soon as possible.

“Israel is sending a delegation in two weeks. We expect some kind of breakthrough during the meeting,” said MoLE spokesperson Buddhi Bahadur Khadka.

MoLE officials said that Israel is positive on hiring some 300 Nepali caregivers in the initial phase once the modality of recruitment process is finalised. The modality will incorporate various provisions including eligibility criteria for workers, recruitment fee and bodies involved in the process.

Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), a government body governing the foreign employment sector, has been working on the draft to be tabled during the bilateral meeting expected to be held next month. DoFE officials said that the joint meeting will set up an interim mechanism involving the government channel to hire the workers.

“Many technical problems are involved in sending the workers through the government to government channel. We plan to find out an effective mechanism to make the recruitment process more transparent and effective. The meeting will hopefully open the way to at least resume the hiring of the workers,” said DoFE spokesperson Badri  Karki.

MoLE officials, however, said that the agreement on government-government recruitment system is unlikely to happen anytime soon. They said that the two sides want to ink the pact only after evaluating the practicability of the recruitment process. Both countries are at odd since they have not had any prior experience of recruiting caregivers through a government to government channel.

“There should be a higher level visit team arriving in Nepal for such agreement,” said a ministry official.

Israel had stopped hiring Nepali workers citing the lack of work skills and language proficiency of the migrants. A few Nepali caregivers have, however, still managed to enter Israel in recent years through individual efforts.

Published on: 2 August 2014 | The Kathmandu Post