Mid-term Evaluation Of Migration, Business and Human Rights in Asia: Promoting Corporate Responsibility and Migrant Workers’ Rights in Global

IOM is currently implementing the project Migration, Business and Human Rights in Asia: Promoting Corporate Responsibility and Migrant Workers’ Rights in Global Supply Chains (MBHR Asia), which is jointly funded by the Government of Sweden and the European Union and is a continuation of IOM’s Corporate Responsibility in Eliminating Slavery and Trafficking project which was implemented from 2017 to 2023. The MBHR Asia project runs from January 2024 to December 2028, with Sweden’s financial support concluding in June 2026, marking the mid-point of implementation. After this phase-out, the programme will continue under EU funding until December 2028.

The project targets major labour migration corridors in Asia, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam, where IOM engages governments, private sector actors, and civil society partners at the country level. In parallel, IOM implements a comprehensive regional component, that brings together Asia-wide stakeholders, including ASEAN and regional migrant and civil society networks, along with industry associations and private sector partners, to advance coherent migration governance and responsible business practices at a regional level.

Businesses contribute financially through targeted projects aligned with MBHR Asia’s theory of change. These collaborations not only advance ethical recruitment, decent working conditions, and inclusive workplaces within business supply chains, they also enable IOM to directly support companies in fulfilling their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This combination of business investment and IOM’s technical assistance is a unique feature of the programme and reinforces its role as a trusted partner in driving responsible business conduct across the region.

The project objective is to ensure the protection of human and labour rights of migrant workers within supply chains in Asia. The logical framework is aligned with the UNGPs and seeks to realize the priority goals identified within the UNGPs 10+ Roadmap for the next decade, ensuring that migrants are not left behind in the implementation of the “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework of the UNGPs by governments and business.

• Outcome 1 (Protect): Strengthen labour migration governance and policy reforms through advocacy, research, and multi-stakeholder dialogue, ensuring rights-based and gender-responsive approaches.
• Outcome 2 (Respect): Enhance corporate human rights due diligence, ethical recruitment, and inclusive workplace practices, engaging both multinational enterprises and SMEs.
• Outcome 3 (Remedy): Improve migrant workers’ access to state and corporate grievance mechanisms, supporting civil society and legal aid networks to overcome barriers to justice.

The project itself is guided by a theory of change as well as complementary strategies on:

• Mainstreaming Climate Change, Environmental Change and Labour Migration
• Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
• Private Sector Engagement
• Communications

Further, MBHR Asia project is anchored in international standards and frameworks, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), Global Compact for Migration (GCM) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It also aligns with regional cooperation strategies such as the ASEAN-EU Plan of Action (2023–2027).

The mid-term external evaluation aims to assess the extent to which the project has achieved its aims and objectives at the halfway point in relation to the coherence, relevance, effectiveness, impact, efficiency, and sustainability of project outcomes as well as the extent to which the dedicated project strategies have been mainstreamed into activities.

The specific objectives of the mid-term utilization-focused evaluation are:

• Assess the extent to which the MBHR Asia programme has achieved its intended objectives and outcomes at mid-point, including the integration of cross-cutting priorities. This will serve as a summative assessment of Sweden’s contribution within the jointly funded first phase (2024–June 2026).
• Establish lessons learned from the project’s implementation and provide clear, specific, and prioritized recommendations to strengthen implementation, impact, and sustainability during the second half of the programme (2026–2028).

IOM abides by the norms and standards of the UN Evaluation Group (UNEG) and expects all evaluation stakeholders to be familiar with the ethical conduct guidelines of UNEG and the consultant(s) with the UNEG codes of conduct.

The final report will be made publicly available, and IOM will share the results with the intended users of the report, including the IOM MBHR implementing missions, relevant departments in IOM Headquarters, and the Evaluation Reference Group (ERG). The ERG is expected to include:

1. IOM representatives including the MBHR Asia joint management team (Project Manager, Pillar leads, Communications Officer, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer), Regional Thematic Specialists; Representatives from Private Sector Partnerships (PSP) in IOM Headquarters;
2. Donor representative(s) from the Government of Sweden and European Union.

The mid-term external evaluation will cover the implementation period from 01 January 2024 to 30 June 2026, representing the first half of the MBHR Asia programme jointly funded by the EU and Sweden. The scope includes:

• Geographic: All activities implemented under MBHR Asia, including regional workstreams and country-level interventions in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
• Funding: Results attributable to EU and Sweden funding as well as IOM-led projects with private sector partners that are reported under MBHR Asia and contribute to achieving programme outcomes and objectives.
• Cross-Cutting issues: Integration of project strategies (Mainstreaming Climate Change, Environmental Change and Labour Migration; Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; Private Sector Engagement; and Communications) across programme activities.

The following key OECD/DAC main evaluation criteria plus cross-cutting issues will guide the evaluation. These should be adapted/supplemented as needed by specific sub-questions by the Evaluator in consultation with the ERG before undertaking the evaluation.

Evaluation Criteria:

• Relevance: Extent to which the project’s objective and intended results remain valid as originally planned or modified.

Evaluation Question:

1. To what extent is the project aligned with regional frameworks (e.g., ASEAN), national policies, international standards, roadmaps and donor priorities including the UNGPs 10+ Roadmap for the next decade?
2. How should MBHR Asia’s strategies and activities evolve to remain relevant to emerging migration and business and human rights challenges in Asia?
3. How should MBHR Asia’s strategies and activities be shaped to best support the preparedness of key stakeholders to emerging relevant national and international legislation, such as national due diligence legislation, the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) and Forced Labour Regulation?

• Coherence: The compatibility and complementarities of the project with other activities and interventions in the sector by IOM and/or other organization.

Evaluation Question:

1. How well has IOM used and facilitated interlinkages with and between relevant external stakeholders (businesses, business associations, civil society organizations, governments, migrant representatives, IGO partners)?

   1.1 How has the MBHR Asia project managed to build on the CREST project and sustain momentum?

2. Are there any gaps or untapped opportunities that IOM could explore to strengthen the role of the private sector, public sector or civil society in contributing to project’s objectives?

• Effectiveness: The extent to which the project achieves its intended results.

Evaluation Question:

1. What results have been achieved at the mid-point of the project and which approaches and partnerships have delivered the most significant results so far?

2. How has the project adapted to political, regulatory, and operational challenges in the region and different countries? What strategies have been most effective in overcoming identified barriers?

3. How effective is the overall management of the project (e.g., project team composition and roles, coordination and decision making, partner engagement, monitoring, and communication)?

   3.1 What has been the key progress achieved through regional and country level coordination mechanisms (e.g., Joint Management Team including Pillar Leads, IOM Project Advisory Board, Regional Programme Advisory Meeting)?

• Efficiency: How resources (human, financial) are used to undertake activities and how well these are converted to outputs.

Evaluation Question:

1. Have activities, both core programme activities and private‑sector‑funded projects, been delivered in a timely and cost-effective manner?
   1. 1. To what extent do these two streams interact and reinforce (or strain) overall programme efficiency?

• Impact: How the project intervention affects the outcomes and whether these effects are intended or unintended.

Evaluation Question:

1. What intermediary positive or negative, intended, or unintended, higher-level effects (policy, corporate practices, migrant worker protections) – or indications of such effects - has the intervention generated?
   1. 1. To what extent have the regional workstreams and each national workstream contributed to achieving the intended results?

• Sustainability: If the project’s benefits will be maintained after the project ends.

Evaluation Question:

1. To what extent have businesses or governments introduced or modified processes to ensure that the results generated by the project continue beyond its end?
2. What strategies should be prioritized to ensure sustainability of results, particularly in private sector engagement and policy influence?

• Cross-Cutting Issues

Evaluation Question:

1. To what extent has the intervention integrated and applied its cross-cutting strategies in the following areas

• Mainstreaming Climate Change, Environmental Change, and Labour Migration
• Gender Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
• Private Sector Engagement
• Communications and Visibility

1. In what ways can implementation of the strategies be enhanced during the remaining implementation period?

This evaluation will be externally conducted by a company qualified and experienced in conducting project evaluations and that is independent of the project design, planning, and implementation. Initial indications on the methodology are presented below. However, the complete mixed-methods approach should be further developed by the Evaluator(s) and the IOM management team during the inception phase of the evaluation.

Efforts shall be exerted to ensure the inclusivity and engagement of relevant stakeholders to bring out their voices on how they perceived the implementation and results of the project. The sampling method will be purposive, and sample size will be determined during the inception phase. Document review and data collection will be conducted in English.

Document review

Desk review of relevant project documents, project reports, meeting minutes, publications and other materials identified:

• Project documents: proposal, budget, annual work plans, project amendments
• National, regional or international strategies or policies or relevant to MBHR
• Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning tools: Annual narrative and financial reports, MBHR monthly activity relays, activity reports, monitoring frameworks, annual audit reports
• Project strategies: Mainstreaming Climate Change, Environmental Change and Labour Migration; Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; Private Sector Engagement; and Communications
• IOM strategies: IOM Private Sector Engagement Strategy 2023-2027, IOM global MBHR approach
• Proposals, deliverables and project reports from private sector projects
• Visibility and communication: press releases, project website, newsletters, social media, external publications from private sector partners mentioning IOM
• Knowledge products and deliverables produced under the project

Data collection

To capture the experiences, perspectives, and potential benefits of various groups involved in the project, online key informant interviews (KIIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) should be conducted with:

a. Implementers (IOM staff managing and implementing activities across all project countries)

b. Donor representatives from the Government of Sweden and the European Union as well as private sector partners supp...