Category: Uncategorized

WEBINAR Peer Lending for People on the Move: Converting Social Capital into Creditworthiness

Posted on December 11, 2025 by Majo Gimenez - Uncategorized

The Mobility Finance Network (MFN) hosted its third webinar in December 2025: “Peer Lending for People on the Move: Converting Social Capital into Creditworthiness.” Ashley Gerwin, Co-Founder of Giving Credit and a member of the MFN advisory council, explored the credit challenges migrants face and the importance of community finance. She also discussed how Giving Credit turns trusted social transactions into recognized credit domestically—with implications for worker mobility and migration programs globally. Access the webinar recording here and the slides here.

The Mobility Finance Network is an initiative powered by LaMP that fosters collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and innovation to cultivate financial tools for workers on the move and the businesses that support them. To learn more about the MFN, sign up for announcements here.

Unlocking cross-border labor mobility: Accelerating tech solutions for transparent and accessible migration

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Haley Gray - Uncategorized

Context and Problem

While governments in high-income countries are expanding visa pathways to address labor shortages, unlocking the full potential of cross-border labor mobility requires scalable private-sector solutions that improve utilization, transparency, and affordability. These solutions must fit local realities while building on universal principles. Yet too often, actors in the migration ecosystem start from scratch—coordinating visa processes, industry needs, skill recognition, job placement, access to finance, and community integration—with limited infrastructure and tools. The result is a mobility system that is slow, costly, and inefficient, leaving existing legal pathways underused. To scale safe, controlled migration, we need universal, agile solutions that work across borders—and technological solutions developed by the private sector can provide exactly that.  

In the last five years, immigrants have become an attractive market for tech companies, spurring growth in remittances, banking, credit, and legal-service platforms. But most of this innovation begins only after migrants arrive in destination countries. Before crossing borders, aspiring workers are seen as high-risk and low-return, and solutions for them remain scarce.

As a result, the world lacks scaled platforms that support migrants before and during their journeys—services such as pathway discovery, training, skill recognition, visa processing, job matching, and pre-migration finance. Entrepreneurs and investors have had limited incentives to enter this space, leaving significant opportunity to innovate around these more complex, pre-migration needs—especially for workers pursuing lower-skilled roles abroad.

Proposed Solution 

LaMP proposes deploying its labor migration expertise, together with partners in the fields of acceleration services and technology, to build a support system for rising tech entrepreneurs seeking to solve pre-migration challenges. The proposed program will accelerate solutions that help aspiring migrant populations cross borders in a safe and well-managed manner.

These solutions will address market challenges while embracing transparency and migrant-centred design. The target cohort for the accelerator will include 10-12 early-stage businesses that: 1) directly provide a tech. enabled solution to increasing the quantity and quality of cross-border labor mobility, or 2) provide a tech. enabled solution that can be expanded to labor mobility (a clear path to transfer, expansion and sustainability is required).  

Over a timeline of 15 months, LaMP seeks to: 1) run regional start-up competitions to surface high-potential ventures building solutions for cross-border labor mobility; and 2) support a cohort of early-stage businesses with targeted acceleration—technical assistance, strategic connections, management support, and applied research. In parallel, LaMP will seek to raise grant and seed funding to invest in these early and growth-stage businesses from network investors, foundations, and HNWIs. 

 LaMP aims to launch this solution in 2026 and is seeking aligned funders and implementation partners who are excited to grow the tech entrepreneurial ecosystem around labor mobility.

To learn more or get involved, please contact Prerna Choudhury: pchoudhury@lampforum.org 

Cross-border labor recruitment recommendations grounded in worker voices: From listening to action

Posted on December 9, 2025 by Majo Gimenez - Uncategorized

Building on our previous report, which focused primarily on the U.S. H-2A program, this 2025 report expands the scope to include workers from both Mexico and Guatemala participating in U.S. and Canadian seasonal work visa pathways. While our 2023 report focused on describing worker experiences through both quantitative and qualitative data, this year’s report goes a step further, offering actionable recommendations grounded in two years of worker insights.

Our findings reflect what workers told us and what we’ve learned through ongoing engagement with employers and recruiters. The Worker Voice Survey continues to demonstrate that better recruitment is both possible and within reach. Listening to workers, and acting on their feedback, remains one of the most effective ways to build safer, more transparent migration pathways that benefit all parties.

We invite you to explore the full report to gain a clearer view of workers’ realities and uncover practical insights to strengthen the recruitment process.

For more information, contact:

Kim Geronimo

kgeronimo@lampforum.org

WEBINAR Designing a Win-Win Loan Fund: Incentivizing Worker Retention Through Zero-Interest Training Loans

Posted on November 12, 2025 by Majo Gimenez - Uncategorized

The Economist: How to Make Immigration Palatable in a Populist Age

Posted on November 6, 2025 by Majo Gimenez - the case for mobility, Uncategorized

In a watershed moment, LaMP’s theory of change served as the core thesis for an article in the Economist. This thesis argues that rotational visas are essential to reconciling the “unstoppable force of demographics” with the “immovable object of politics.” The article cites the rapid expansion of temporary visa programs across Japan, Italy, France, Spain, and even Hungary – with the sharpest increases seen under the most conservative leadership. The article quotes LaMP Co-Founder and Board Chair Lant Pritchett, Advisory Council member Michael Clemens, and partner Margaret Mugwanja of Silver RayHR. A parallel piece in the New York Times featured LaMP partner GATI Foundation on India’s leadership to build the globally mobile workforce that will move through these visas.

Read the full Economist article here and the New York Times article here.

LaMP’s Kenya-Japan Mobility Program Featured on National Japanese TV

Posted on November 6, 2025 by Majo Gimenez - Uncategorized

At LaMP, we work to dramatically increase the scale and quality of labor mobility, helping workers from low-income countries to access quality jobs across borders and businesses in high-income countries to address deepening labor shortages. A recent media piece featured our work translating this vision into reality.

LaMP’s Kenya-Japan mobility program was featured on TV-Asahi, a national television channel in Japan, as part of a longer documentary piece exploring Africa as the next frontier of labor migration for Japan. In a country where sales of baby diapers have been outstripped by sales of adult diapers, Japan is recognizing the need to open to a wider range of young workers to maintain its workforce.

The worker featured in the thumbnail is George – a Kenyan worker going through the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) pathway through the mobility program spearheaded by LaMP. George and two fellow workers will be some of the first 3 Africans to go through the TITP. They are following 3 others who have gone through the Gijinkoku (high-skilled pathway) and will be followed by several others in the program going through the Specified Skills Visa.

You can see our team in action here and watch the full documentary here.

South Africa on the Move: Unlocking Access to Cross-Border Job Opportunities in Germany for South African Youth

Posted on October 28, 2025 by Majo Gimenez - Uncategorized

LaMP is exploring the design of a cross-border livelihoods program that connects South Africa’s underemployed youth with Germany’s growing labor shortages.

This project builds on the track record of two South African organizations with deep experience in catalyzing inclusive employment. Together with LaMP, these partners bring the credibility, experience and networks needed to design a fair and scalable South Africa–Germany labor mobility pathway.

The Opportunity

Germany is facing a structural labor shortage. Over 1.3 million jobs remain unfilled today, with projections that this gap will grow to 5 million by 2030. Vacancies are especially acute in healthcare, skilled trades, logistics, and the green economy. At the same time, South Africa has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world: 46.1% of its youth workforce is without work, and over 45% of the 15-34 age group is not in employment, education, or training.

This demographic complementarity creates a powerful opportunity: to connect South Africa’s young, motivated workforce with Germany’s demand for skilled talent through a structured, rights-respecting migration pathway.

Photo by Adrian Brand on Unsplash.

What We Learned in a Collaboration-Focused Visit to Germany

In May 2025, our delegation of partners met with policymakers, recruiters, employers, chambers of commerce, language providers, and diaspora networks in Germany. Several clear insights emerged:

Language is the critical enabler. Across every meeting, German language proficiency (typically B1–B2) was highlighted as the foundation of success—for workplace safety, technical training, and social integration. Without robust, scalable language preparation in South Africa, pathways will fail to take off.

Employer appetite is real but uneven. The healthcare sector is most prepared to recruit international talent. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), while facing the sharpest shortages, often lack the resources to manage recruitment, onboarding, and integration of foreign workers. By contrast, some large firms have strong in-house training systems and domestic pipelines, and so for now show less appetite to recruit apprentices or junior talent from abroad.

Shared-cost models are essential. Employers are reluctant to bear all pre-departure costs (especially for language training), but candidates cannot shoulder them alone. Shared financing—spanning employers, recruitment and language actors, and possibly candidates—will be critical for equity, scale, and sustainability.

Integration goes beyond the workplace. Housing, mentorship, cultural orientation, and anti-discrimination safeguards must be built into program design. SMEs, given their size and capacity, will need external support to ensure successful integration.
South Africa is on the radar—but unproven. Stakeholders expressed openness to South Africa as a source country but emphasized that the country needs to demonstrate strong ecosystems for selection, training, and support of workers.

From Insight to Action

Based on these learnings, our consortium is now working towards a focused pilot in sectors where demand is high and employer receptiveness is strong – such as nursing assistants or selected skilled trades. Key priorities include:

Scaling high-quality language training in South Africa, with clear progression benchmarks and early exit points for candidates unable to meet requirements.

Designing sustainable financing solutions that blend employer, worker, and donor contributions while keeping access equitable for workers from different backgrounds.

Building an end-to-end ecosystem spanning recruitment, training, visa processing, integration, and retention—with carefully selected partners at each stage.

Addressing inclusion and perception risks by embedding intercultural training, community sensitization, and anti-discrimination safeguards.

Why This Matters

This venture is about more than filling vacancies in Germany. It is about demonstrating that migration can be designed as a win-win solution, providing pathways for South African youth to access quality training and jobs abroad while meeting critical labor needs in Germany. If successful, it will serve as a proof point that structured, ethical, and scalable labor mobility is possible between African countries and Europe.

Workshop: Unlocking Income Gains by Investing in Labor Mobility

Posted on October 27, 2025 by Majo Gimenez - the case for mobility, Uncategorized

The one-pager below provides key information about a workshop facilitated by LaMP in 2025 on the “Learn, Earn, Return” model of labor mobility. It explores how the creation of a professional, economically efficient, and just global labor mobility industry can help people safely migrate to work for years at a time, but return home with profits and new skills.

NPR: Declining Birth Rates and the End of Growth as We Know It

Posted on October 27, 2025 by Majo Gimenez - Uncategorized

Credit: Brian Mann/NPR

NPR’s Population Shift series examines how declining birth rates are reshaping the global economy, with families worldwide having fewer children. They interviewed LaMP’s Co-Founder and Research Director, Lant Pritchett, who explained that this demographic shift is challenging assumptions about economic growth that evolved during an era of rapid population increases. He warned that we’re entering uncharted territory, since we lack historical examples of countries navigating dramatic demographic decline.

Read the full article here.

Expanding Responsible Recruitment from Guatemala

Posted on October 17, 2025 by Majo Gimenez - Uncategorized

LaMP is exploring the design of a cross-border livelihoods program that connects South Africa’s underemployed youth with Germany’s growing labor shortages.

The Opportunity

Photo by Adrian Brand on Unsplash.

What We Learned in a Collaboration-Focused Visit to Germany

In May 2025, our delegation of partners met with policymakers, recruiters, employers, chambers of commerce, language providers, and diaspora networks in Germany. Several clear insights emerged:

Language is the critical enabler. Across every meeting, German language proficiency (typically B1–B2) was highlighted as the foundation of success—for workplace safety, technical training, and social integration. Without robust, scalable language preparation in South Africa, pathways will fail to take off.

Employer appetite is real but uneven. The healthcare sector is most prepared to recruit international talent. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), while facing the sharpest shortages, often lack the resources to manage recruitment, onboarding, and integration of foreign workers. By contrast, some large firms have strong in-house training systems and domestic pipelines, and so for now show less appetite to recruit apprentices or junior talent from abroad.

Shared-cost models are essential. Employers are reluctant to bear all pre-departure costs (especially for language training), but candidates cannot shoulder them alone. Shared financing—spanning employers, recruitment and language actors, and possibly candidates—will be critical for equity, scale, and sustainability.

Integration goes beyond the workplace. Housing, mentorship, cultural orientation, and anti-discrimination safeguards must be built into program design. SMEs, given their size and capacity, will need external support to ensure successful integration.
South Africa is on the radar—but unproven. Stakeholders expressed openness to South Africa as a source country but emphasized that the country needs to demonstrate strong ecosystems for selection, training, and support of workers.

From Insight to Action

Scaling high-quality language training in South Africa, with clear progression benchmarks and early exit points for candidates unable to meet requirements.

Designing sustainable financing solutions that blend employer, worker, and donor contributions while keeping access equitable for workers from different backgrounds.

Building an end-to-end ecosystem spanning recruitment, training, visa processing, integration, and retention—with carefully selected partners at each stage.

Addressing inclusion and perception risks by embedding intercultural training, community sensitization, and anti-discrimination safeguards.

Why This Matters

Labor Mobility as Development: The Case for Migration Pathways

Posted on October 16, 2025 by Majo Gimenez - Uncategorized

Credit: Devex

Lant Pritchett, LaMP’s Co-Founder and Research Director, argued for reimagining labor mobility as a development strategy. Speaking at Devex Impact House during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings, he highlighted the massive aging problem facing high-income countries and emphasized that facilitating migration to high-productivity settings can increase workers’ earnings fivefold—far exceeding traditional development interventions that might boost wages by only 10%. He called for orderly migration pathways and programs that help lower-income countries effectively recruit, prepare, and place workers, positioning labor mobility as one of the most powerful poverty reduction tools available.

Read the full Devex article here and watch the complete video here.

Project Link: Cross-border livelihoods for Kenyan workers in Japan

Posted on September 11, 2025 by Haley Gray - Uncategorized

LaMP is exploring the design of a cross-border livelihoods program that connects South Africa’s underemployed youth with Germany’s growing labor shortages.

The Opportunity

Photo by Adrian Brand on Unsplash.

What We Learned in a Collaboration-Focused Visit to Germany

In May 2025, our delegation of partners met with policymakers, recruiters, employers, chambers of commerce, language providers, and diaspora networks in Germany. Several clear insights emerged:

Language is the critical enabler. Across every meeting, German language proficiency (typically B1–B2) was highlighted as the foundation of success—for workplace safety, technical training, and social integration. Without robust, scalable language preparation in South Africa, pathways will fail to take off.

Employer appetite is real but uneven. The healthcare sector is most prepared to recruit international talent. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), while facing the sharpest shortages, often lack the resources to manage recruitment, onboarding, and integration of foreign workers. By contrast, some large firms have strong in-house training systems and domestic pipelines, and so for now show less appetite to recruit apprentices or junior talent from abroad.

Shared-cost models are essential. Employers are reluctant to bear all pre-departure costs (especially for language training), but candidates cannot shoulder them alone. Shared financing—spanning employers, recruitment and language actors, and possibly candidates—will be critical for equity, scale, and sustainability.

Integration goes beyond the workplace. Housing, mentorship, cultural orientation, and anti-discrimination safeguards must be built into program design. SMEs, given their size and capacity, will need external support to ensure successful integration.
South Africa is on the radar—but unproven. Stakeholders expressed openness to South Africa as a source country but emphasized that the country needs to demonstrate strong ecosystems for selection, training, and support of workers.

From Insight to Action

Scaling high-quality language training in South Africa, with clear progression benchmarks and early exit points for candidates unable to meet requirements.

Designing sustainable financing solutions that blend employer, worker, and donor contributions while keeping access equitable for workers from different backgrounds.

Building an end-to-end ecosystem spanning recruitment, training, visa processing, integration, and retention—with carefully selected partners at each stage.

Addressing inclusion and perception risks by embedding intercultural training, community sensitization, and anti-discrimination safeguards.