During 13-14 August 2025, the Dominican Institute for Technical and Vocational Training (INFOTEP), with the technical support of the ILO, carried out a technical workshop to promote a Regional Strategy for the Recognition of Skills of people on the move in Central America, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. The strategy is being implemented under the Comprehensive Regional Protection and Solutions Framework (MIRPS).

The Fair Recruitment Initiative (FRI) incorporates skills certification as a key tool to empower workers - particularly migrants and those in vulnerable situations - by ensuring their competencies are recognized and valued in recruitment processes. As highlighted in the ILO Regional Strategy on Labour Migration and Human Mobility in Latin America and the Caribbean 2023–2030, the recognition and certification of skills are essential for promoting labour mobility. However, many migrants arrive in host countries without documentation to certify their experience or prior learning, which limits their opportunities for regularization and access to formal employment.

Considering these challenges, the Comprehensive Regional Protection and Solutions Framework (MIRPS), with the technical support of the ILO, has been developing strategic actions to facilitate the recognition of skills of people on the move. These include the assessment of competencies, and the validation of skills certificates issued abroad, with the aim of contributing to the socio-economic integration of people on the move.

To implement this process, a preliminary strategy was designed aimed at improving the recognition of job skills and facilitating labour mobility in Central America, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, in coordination with the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM). In the following phase, the institutions responsible for vocational training and skills certification would take the lead. The technical expertise of the Network of Vocational Training Institutions of Central America and the Dominican Republic (REDIFP) and Inter-American Centre for Knowledge Development in Vocational Training (ILO/CINTERFOR) was brought in, as well as the technical support of the ILO’s Labour Migration Department. 

With this backdrop, the workshop in Santo Domingo, with the financial support of the ILO/WHP project, gathered representatives from vocational training institutes and other institutions responsible for skills certification from Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic. 

The workshop achieved three main results:

• Information was gathered on the evaluation, certification, and skills recognition processes of the participating institutions and countries. Notable differences in quality were identified, highlighting the importance of improving these processes at the subregional level, and strengthening coordination between institutions to leverage lessons learned from those with more experience. 

• The strategy was reviewed, maintaining the short-, medium-, and long-term actions. Participating institutions identified short-term actions that they can implement immediately to improve their services, and noted how they can work together to enhance the quality and mutual trust between training and certification systems. 

• The next steps at national and subregional level were defined, among which a presentation of the workshop’s results in regional fora such as MIRPS, RCM, and REDIFP is foreseen.