A path to social safety for migrant workers | Ashif Shaikh

Episode Summary

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In the TED Talks Daily episode titled "A path to social safety for migrant workers," Ashif Shaikh discusses the increasing trend of migration due to climate change and his commitment to creating a resilient support network for migrants. He highlights the plight of the three-quarters of a billion workers globally who migrate within their countries, often leaving their families behind to work in construction, manufacturing, and agriculture. These migrants, unlike others who move for opportunities, migrate to survive under poor conditions, low wages, and without a safety net, making them vulnerable to hunger, debt, and exploitation. Shaikh points out that India, with its fast-growing economy, is home to 200 million internal migrants who contribute significantly to the GDP but lack access to the country's extensive safety net system. Despite the availability of benefits designed to assist the poor, including migrants, the complexity and bureaucratic hurdles make it difficult for them to access these resources. To address this issue, Shaikh and his team at the Migrant Resilience Collaborative work to improve the delivery and access of benefits for migrants. They employ a two-pronged strategy that involves helping migrants overcome challenges in accessing benefits and establishing a feedback loop with the government and industry to improve policy design and accountability. The collaborative's efforts have led to significant achievements, including assisting over 3 million households in accessing social security benefits. Shaikh shares the story of Suresh, a migrant worker from Maharashtra, who, with the help of the collaborative, gained access to food security, insurance, and the knowledge to access his rights and entitlements. This support has given Suresh and his family hope for a better future, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and supporting the hard work of migrants who contribute to society. Shaikh concludes by stressing the urgency of addressing migrant issues in the face of climate change-induced migration. He expresses his ambition to scale the program across South and Southeast Asia and calls for global recognition of the contributions of migrant workers, ensuring they are no longer invisible or ignored. Through his work, Shaikh aims to honor the dignity of migrant workers and support their integration into the societies they help build.

Episode Show Notes

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Hundreds of millions of migrant workers travel within their countries to seek out means of survival — often leaving behind all they know for months or even years. Many face poverty and exploitation, and they need a robust social safety net to protect them, says migrant advocate and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Ashif Shaikh. He shares how his grassroots organization Migrants Resilience Collaborative is making life-changing benefits like social security and health care accessible to those who need them while also amplifying migrant voices — paving the way towards a world that supports the workers actually building it. (This ambitious idea is a part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)

Episode Transcript

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SPEAKER_00: TED Audio Collective. You're listening to TED Talks Daily.I'm Elise Hu.Migration is only increasing as climate change accelerates.And Asif Shaikh has made it his life's work to build a network of resilience for migrants.In his talk from TED 2023, the Audacious Project grantee explains how and the hope and security it means for a growing global community.After the break. Support for TED Talks Daily comes from Capital One Bank.With no fees or minimums, banking with Capital One is the easiest decision in the history of decisions.Even easier than deciding to listen to another episode of your favorite podcast. And with no overdraft fees, is it even a decision?That's banking reimagined.What's in your wallet?Terms apply.See CapitalOne.com slash Bank.Capital One N.A.Member FDIC. Thank you so much for having me. Choose from over 40 themes.Buy all the stocks in a theme as is or customize to better fit your investing goals. 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SPEAKER_02: So most of us here are migrants.We have moved for opportunities and a better life for ourselves and our children. There are three quarters of a billion workers globally who migrate within their countries.Some go to the nearest town for a short duration, and some travel thousands of miles for months, even years, leaving all they know, including their families, behind.These migrants work at a construction site, manufacturing units, agriculture fields. But unlike us, they are not migrating for opportunities, but to survive.The majority of them are poor, working for very low wages, and lack a safety net.Many face hunger, debt and exploitation.Without safety net, one job loss, one health emergency undermine years of effort and keep them trapped in the cycles of poverty. I come from India.India is the fastest growing economy in the world and home to 200 million internal migrants. These migrants directly contribute at least 10% in our 3 trillion GDP.But they lack safety net.What's remarkable is that we have a huge safety net system in India which provides various benefits like cash transfer, food subsidy, health care, insurance. In fact, there are 7,000 benefits available with the billions of dollars allocated for poor, including migrants.And evidence shows that these benefits help in a huge way.And globally, safety net have been reduced, poverty by 40 percent.But if migrants can access them, and access is not very easy.Most do not know about the benefit, If they do, requirements are too complex and too many for the migrants who are daily wage earners.So money and programs exist, but the delivery system is just not working.And this is what our team and partners at Migrant Resilience Collaborative are trying to fix.Our goal is simple.We build resilience and ensure dignity of the migrant community for this, we have adopted a two-pronged strategy.Our team, over 1,000 people, themselves come from the migrant community, help millions across 100 districts to overcome the challenges in the delivery and access of their benefits.And at the same time, we establish a feedback loop from the community to the government and industry. so we can improve the underlying system, policy design and accountability to fix the system long-term for tens of millions more.In just two and a half years ago, what we started as an audacious idea, today, the planet's largest grassroots-led collaborative for the migrants. and has helped over 3 million households for the social security benefits.Benefits for the people like Suresh.We met Suresh when he was looking for a daily job work in Mumbai.Let's hear from him. SPEAKER_01: My name is Suresh Bhimra Vaidande.I am from the Khato block of Satara district in Maharashtra.I was tired of being poor, so I quit school to work for daily wages. I decided that I had to work hard to survive and make sure that I could feed my family so I came to Mumbai.I took the Kohina Express from Satara to Mumbai.It was my first time taking a train.I saw mountains, valleys, canyons and tunnels.The atmosphere was so different.For my first job, I was paid something like 30-40 rupees a day but it felt like I had made 30 or 40 thousand rupees. As a daily laborer, there are many problems and some are really difficult to overcome. If workers take on jobs without proper identification cards to track their hours, they can potentially lose payment.Sometimes, the employer doesn't pay for your travel like they should. Or they promise you work and then they give it to someone else.There is a lot of injustice.Jan Sahas ask us to be careful and be aware.They share important information with us since not everything about our work is formally structured.The Migrant Resilience Collaborative provides us information about our rights and they provide support if we are treated unfairly or face any injustice.My wife and I work very hard to ensure that Our children do not have to do hard labor and that they get a good education.Whether it's Mumbai or any other city in India, the country cannot survive without workers like us. The great poet Anabahu Sate used to say, this land is not resting on earth but on the closed hands of workers.The only way that any town, village or country can develop is through the hard labor of workers. SPEAKER_02: With support of our team, Suresh has access to food security, insurance and a hope to continue education for his children.Most importantly, knowledge on how to access his rights and entitlements.Let me leave you with this.With climate change, the migration is set to grow at an unprecedented scale in our countries. We will scale our program across South and Southeast Asia to share our work with the world.There are hundreds of millions of people who work very hard to build modern society from the ground up.The buildings where we live or work in, the airport, the big hotels, but yet none of these are accessible for them. This is the moment where we should recognize their contribution and ensure they will no longer be invisible or ignored.They belong.We do this work to honor their dignity. Thank you.