IID recently visited BMET on 14th February 2018 in Jessore as to collect one on one stories of migrants as a part of Migrants First (প্রবাসী প্রথম), social media campaign. IID captured plights and pleas of migrants in videos and written interviews.
Migrants First (প্রবাসী প্রথম) is an online community specifically geared towards Bangladeshi labour migrants living abroad; it serves as a platform to share their experience where migrants help each other with their own experience. Aspirant migrants in the group ask questions and migrants usually answer them. During the exposure visit paid at BMET, IID discussed about their social media campaign and asked the trainees, who are preparing to migrate and returnee migrants, about their experience regarding three things – the process of migration, the service provider and middleman.
Some of the returnee migrants were interviewed to share their experience with the High Commission of Bangladesh in the destination countries. They were also interviewed about their financial situation and investment opportunities in Bangladesh, with the money they have saved while working abroad. These interviews were recorded as video documentaries for social media campaign to raise awareness about labour migration.
This exposure visit was a part of Fairer Labour Migration of PROKAS project.