Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka

Introduction

Introduction

ICTA in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) has launched the e-Foreign Employment project as one of the pilot eServices considering its high impact and visibility to both the citizens and business. Presently, the foreign employment is the largest net foreign exchange earner, main source of employment for the citizen and is a critical sector to the Sri Lanka economy which is growing rapidly.

Having considered the contribution to the economy and the feasibility of successful implementation as an eService, ICTA and SLBFE mutually agreed to implement the eForeign Employment project as a priority project under the eSri Lanka development initiative to make the services of SLBFE more efficient and effective by using Information and Communication Technologies.

Project Development Objective

The objective of the project is to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the entire process of foreign employment registration and placement through an ICT driven system of management. The system will provide a web based solution for the management of foreign employment registration, faster and more efficient method for job order approval, and easier access to the Bureau.

The key objectives of eForeign Employment are to:

• allow any Sri Lanka citizens who desire to work overseas to register with the SLBFE for overseas employment support via local employment agencies.    

• allow any Sri Lanka citizens who are working overseas to request for welfare support or their relatives to lodge complaints on their behalf.    

• enable any local recruitment agencies which wish to apply for agency licence and job order approval to do so in the most convenient and speedy manner.     

• To enable any overseas recruitment agencies to connect to the Sri Lanka labour supply market by means of collaborating with the local counterparts with support from the Bureau.      

• enable SLBFE staff at foreign mission to assist in the process of job order approval by means of endorsing overseas job order, as well as carry out investigation of complaints lodge with SLBFE. Foreign mission staffs are also able to investigate foreign employment agencies that are planning to register with SLBFE.      

• enable SLBFE staff to render better services and support efficiently to all the migrant workers and employment agencies.

    
Stakeholders and Key Partners :    

• Citizens - The key users include the prospective migrant workers ie. those aspire to work overseas, the existing migrant    workers ie. those are already working overseas and the returned migrant workers ie. those who have returned from their    overseas employment for good.

• Business – The key business users include both the local and overseas employment agencies     

• SLBFE – Being the owner agency of this online service, SLBFE stands to benefit the most from the online service,    

• Sri Lanka Foreign Missions – The SLBFE staff attached to the Foreign Missions are a very critical link in the approval of job   orders process.     

• Foreign Employer – Being the employer ultimately managing the migrant workers who would be working for them,     

• Educational & Training Institutions – Being the private training centers which are working with SLBFE to train the migrant   workers before they leave for their overseas employment,.

 
Scope and Output of the Project

The project will facilitate the management of workflows, documents, databases and other related information electronically in relation to the following processors.     

1. Agency Licensing - This module allows the employment agency to submit their application to start a new employment     agency, both in Sri Lanka and in other countries. The module also allow current agency to register new branches and     submit the relevant document to SLBFE..

2. Job Order Approval - The Job Order Module is to allow both local and foreign employment agency to create job order,     which then creates alerts to inform the relevant Foreign Missions that new job order are ready for inspection.     

3. Lodging of Complaint - The purpose of this module is to allow SLBFE to capture information of complaints which are     lodged with the Bureau. The module also allows for recording of the actions taken to resolve the complaints and both     interim status and final results from the investigation.     

4. Public Information - The purpose of this module is to allow SLBFE to publish information related to the employment     information of Sri Lankan overseas     

5. Welfare - The purpose of this module is to allow SLBFE to publish information related welfare that SLBFE is able to     provide migrants either when they are thinking of going overseas to work, while they are overseas and when they return     to Sri Lanka. The system would also allow the migrant or their family members to apply for certain assistance from     SLBFE.     

6. Training Information - The purpose of this module is to allow SLBFE to publish information related to the training    requirements for employment of Sri Lankan overseas.

Expected Outcome

1. More foreign employment opportunities for Sri Lankan
2. Well being of the foreign employees and their families
3. Increase foreign exchange earnings and the national income of country

progress

Project Progress

Completed Activities

Planed Activities

Governance

The project is managed by the SLBFE and ICTA jointly. The core management team of the project is the Project Steering Committee (PSC) appointed jointly by the SLBFE and ICTA. The PSC of the Project, comprise by Chairman of SLBFE, General Manager of SLBFE, Deputy General Manager(IT) of SLBFE, Program Manger of ICTA and few other Senior Staff Members of SLBFE. The Project Management Committee (PMC), established under PSC has been entrusted with the day to day operations and management of functions of the project. The PMC is chaired by the Deputy General Manager (IT) of SLBFE. In addition, a dedicated Project Manager has been appointed to assist the Project Management functions by the ICTA.