NGOs’ Approach to the Reintegration of Returned Female Labor Migrants in Bangladesh

Female labor migration for livelihood is becoming a common phenomenon in migrant-sending countries. Although female workers migrate with a temporary contract for a better livelihood, they are experienced with various exploitations and difficulties while working abroad. Therefore, many female migrants returned to the country from the Middle East, and they faced enormous challenges in reintegration. Thus, this paper critically reviews the role of migration-related NGOs in the reintegration of returned female migrants in Bangladesh. It also explores the critical limitations of the NGO’s approach to this reintegration. The paper is qualitative research that includes primary and secondary data. Primary data were collected through face-to-face in-depth interviews with 27 participants. The paper also employs secondary data from articles, books, and reports of migration-focused NGOs. Based on the findings from data, the paper argues that the migration-focused NGOs in Bangladesh positively impact the reintegration of Bangladeshi returned female migrants by providing economic assistance, social, psychological, and legal support to returned women, entrepreneurship training, social mobilization strategies, and grassroots-level activities. The data also show that the migration-focused NGOs in Bangladesh face challenges in the reintegration of many returned women due to the NGOs’ aid dependency, a lack of comprehensive actions, shortage of funds, required resources, lack of coordination, socioeconomic structure, stigma, and religious issues. Finally, the paper includes some policy suggestions that would be helpful for the NGO’s approach to reintegrating returned women migrants.