Kathmandu, September 10

The government has started compiling records on number of individuals possessing skills of caregivers. The move is targeted at preparing a roster of potential aspirants, selecting, conducting tests and sending them for jobs in Israel.

A month ago, Nepal and Israel had signed a pact to implement a joint pilot project to send Nepali caregivers to Israel for job of taking care of elderly employers there. This pact had also reopened Israeli job market for Nepalis.

Under the project, Israel has agreed to hire 300 caregivers and assured of increasing quota in the future based on the performance result of those who will be leaving under the pilot project.

In the first phase, a total of 60 individuals will get a chance to leave for Israel, probably within this year, according to the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE).

As a part of its preparation, the department today issued a notice to individuals who have already undergone training of caregivers from the government recognised institutions to register their names in the DoFE along with a copy of their certificate.

A high-level official said that they would first check the number of individuals having skills of caregivers to determine the workforce status eyeing jobs in Israel.

“We will very soon also invite a separate application to start screening of potential aspirants and send them under government-to-government (G2G) initiative as agreed in the pact,” the official added.

On August 7, both the governments had agreed to send workers under G2G system and make the hiring process easy, aspirant-friendly and cost-effective. At that time, the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) of Nepal had said that 60 individuals aged between 25 to 40 years would receive permit to work as caregivers for a period of five years.

As per the MoLE, Centre for International Migration and Integration (CIMI) — an independent non-profit organisation dedicated in assisting Israel in meeting its migration challenges — will send its team to Nepal for the selection of the caregivers.

CIMI will conduct the required tests of the applicants along with the support of DoFE, and the selected workers will be sent to Israel at expenses of around Rs 65,000 per person. Both male and female workers will be able to apply for the tests.

Israel is considered one of the best labour destinations, basically for women to work as caregivers and they can earn at least Rs 100,000 per month. DoFE officials said that they have a target to send all 300 workers within a year in two groups.

Israel is the second country after South Korea to open its job market for Nepali workers under G2G initiative. Earlier in 2009, Israel had stopped hiring Nepali workers citing that Nepali foreign employment agencies had been found to be charging arbitrarily from Israel-bound workers.

However, many aspirants continued to leave for Israel for employment though their personal approach.