ILO Launches STREAM to Expand Social Protection for Migrants in Gulf Corridor

Migrant workers make up between 76 and 95 per cent of the workforce across GCC countries, with the vast majority arriving from Asia, particularly South Asia.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has officially launched its groundbreaking STREAM Programme, a major multi-country initiative designed to extend social protection to migrant workers and their families along one of the world’s largest and most dynamic migration corridors — the South Asia–Gulf region. The programme was unveiled earlier this month during a high-level side event titled “From Origin to Destination” at the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, Qatar, signaling an ambitious new phase of global commitment to fair and inclusive labour migration governance.

STREAM, short for “Extending Social Protection to Migrant Workers and their Families in the South Asia–Gulf Corridor,” is funded and implemented in partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Foreign Policy Instrument of the European Union, and the Ford Foundation. The four-year initiative spans all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — as well as Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India, four key countries of origin for migrant workers.

A Migration Corridor of Global Significance

Migrant workers make up between 76 and 95 per cent of the workforce across GCC countries, with the vast majority arriving from Asia, particularly South Asia. Their labour forms the backbone of essential sectors such as construction, hospitality, domestic work, agriculture, manufacturing and transportation. Remittances sent home play a crucial role in reducing poverty, supporting education, improving household welfare and stabilizing national economies in their countries of origin.

Despite this vital contribution, millions of migrant workers still face major barriers in accessing even the most basic forms of social protection — including healthcare, maternity benefits, unemployment support, disability protection and compensation for workplace accidents. These gaps often stem from restrictive legal frameworks, limited coordination between countries, lack of portability of benefits, administrative obstacles and a general lack of awareness among migrants about their entitlements.

STREAM aims to bridge these gaps by advancing inclusive, rights-based and gender-responsive social protection systems that operate across borders. It builds on global commitments, including the ILO’s standards on social protection, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and growing international recognition that migrant workers must not be excluded from the protections afforded to other workers.

Global Partnership for Rights-Based Reform

Representatives from partner organizations highlighted the transformative potential of STREAM during its launch. H.E. Valérie Berset Bircher, State Secretary for Economic Affairs of Switzerland, underscored that social protection is not only a developmental priority but a human right. “We see access to social protection as a human right that protects migrant workers and their families, who are often excluded by legal, administrative and practical barriers,” she said. She stressed that STREAM provides vital momentum toward inclusive and non-discriminatory legal frameworks that ensure real access to benefits.

From the European Union, H.E. Cristian Tudor, EU Ambassador to Qatar, emphasized that cooperation with the GCC has entered a new strategic phase. “Our collaboration with the region is moving to a more strategic level, one that goes beyond dialogue to building lasting partnerships for fair migration, decent work, and social protection for all workers along the South Asia–Gulf corridor,” he noted. STREAM, he added, is precisely the kind of multilateral engagement needed to translate political commitments into meaningful outcomes for people.

Regional partners echoed this sentiment. H.E. Mohammed bin Hassan Al-Obaidly, Director General of the Executive Bureau of the GCC Council of Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs, highlighted the importance of harmonizing labour mobility governance and aligning national frameworks with international best practices. He pointed to STREAM as an example of how cross-regional cooperation can strengthen systems and build capacity.

Putting Rights, Inclusion and Gender Equality at the Centre

Social protection systems often mirror the structural inequalities facing women and marginalized groups in migration. Women migrant workers — especially those in domestic and care work — face heightened exposure to exploitation, job insecurity, and legal exclusion. The STREAM Programme addresses these issues through a gender-transformative approach, aiming to dismantle structural barriers and build systems that respect and respond to the realities of all workers.

Ghada Abdel Tawab of the Ford Foundation emphasized the programme’s focus on inclusive and rights-based systems that give migrant workers a meaningful voice. “STREAM’s mission to ensure that migrant workers have a genuine voice in shaping policies is a crucial step toward securing dignity and economic security for one of the world’s most vulnerable and essential workforces,” she said.

At the launch, Shahra Razavi, Director of the ILO’s Universal Social Protection Department, noted that while the principle of equal treatment for migrant workers has long been embedded in ILO standards, global progress has remained uneven. STREAM, she said, represents a new era of cooperation: “It brings together governments, employers, workers, civil society and development partners to create portable, gender-responsive and inclusive social protection systems along the South Asia–Gulf corridor.”

A Comprehensive Agenda for Sustainable Impact

The STREAM Programme is designed to generate long-term systemic change by:

• Promoting inclusive and gender-responsive policy frameworks in line with international labour standards, ensuring that migrant workers can access social protection throughout their migration journey.

• Strengthening national social protection systems, focusing on design, financing, administration and digital transformation to enable migrant inclusion and benefit portability.

• Enhancing effective access to social protection through simplified procedures, greater awareness, efficient service delivery and stronger grievance mechanisms.

• Fostering cross-border cooperation through bilateral and multilateral arrangements that secure transferability and sustainability of entitlements.

• Empowering institutions and civil society to engage in evidence-based dialogue and policymaking, ensuring that migrant voices — especially women’s voices — shape social protection reforms.

Through these pillars, STREAM aims to build resilient, just and inclusive systems that uphold the rights and dignity of migrant workers and their families from origin to destination.

As global mobility continues to shape economies, labour markets and societies, the STREAM Programme stands as a timely and ambitious initiative — one that seeks not only to reform systems but to transform the lived realities of millions who contribute daily to the prosperity of both their home and host countries.