Worker Migration: A Case study

Post the declaration of public lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutting down of organizations.

There was an immediate effect on the Labors who worked either on daily wages or in informal work environments. Because of the loss of jobs and the absence of social well-being, a significant share of migrant workers opted to return to their local towns.

What Happened?

• The loss of jobs and means to livelihoods during this period represented a huge danger to the migrant workers well being.
• Due to the suspension of public transport facilities, the migrants started walking towards their home state on foot.
• In May and June, more than 58 lakh migrants went back home through government-operated trains; whereas, 41 lakh migrants traveled back by road.

These turn of events made me super intrigued as to how can this situation be avoided or prevented altogether

Problem Synopsis

1. Loss of Livelihood & Employment along with lack of dependable help leaves the labors feeling anxious about their safety and Survival in disaster prone area
2. Labors suffer from Unawareness about the Government Relief Packages and help provided by NGO
3. While the Government is unaware as to WHO NEEDS THE HELP Precisely during emergency the data collected on various schemes is exclusive.
4. Lot of Cognitive load on Workers related to Paperwork and status of various relief schemes

Solution Synopsis

1. A Product that tells the workers as to Who they are and what relief they are entitled to while providing guidance on opportunities and benefit schemes
2. Helps government to Map workers based on Profile Data
3. Keeps historical record of the schemes that already benefitted the workers.
4. Provides an authentic source of info to the workers during the crisis

Prototype and Process👇

Migrant Worker App

Research:

• Since the pandemic had us all locked down at our homes, reaching out to migrant workers ask for first-hand user research was impossible.
• Thanks to the brave and awesome folks at jansahas.org. I was able to get a holistic view of how things are going on the ground.
• I also read many user quotes from authentic news sources which would further help me get the context of the problem.

What Migrant Population needed the most in Lockdown

Problem 1: The Great Migration

I needed some way to look at the turn of events and go deeper towards causes…I used a simple approach of writing down the incidents like a detective and figured out the triggers of those incidents with secondary research and user quotes from newspapers

Earlier I used to send money home. I don’t know how will I sustain my family. I’ll have to figure out something to make ends meet,” “Coronavirus or whatever it is that they’re talking about now, is the least of my worries right now”

Jaivir Singh, 35,construction worker source:Bloomberquint

Nobody was understanding our problems there. My employer did not lift the phone when I contacted him to ask for my 10 days’ wages pending with him. They are big people. What can we do? I thought I would not survive until the time trains would resume. How long can a starving man survive? Maybe one or two days”

Swain, 45 source: scroll.in

Affinity Mapping of Solutions for Screens

Problem 2: Most Workers remained Unidentified for Relief Works due to Un-Organized Nature of Work

• Government has tried to alleviate the pain of the migrants during the pandemic, by announcing a Rs1.7 lakh crore ($23 billion) package, Jan Sahas Survey found that a large proportion of workers got excluded from the relief.
• For instance, under the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Welfare Fund, workers in the sector are to be provided income support. To access this, they need a BOCW card, which only 18.8% of the respondents had.

Identity Cards Issued by Government Currently in Possession

Problem 3: High Cognitive Load for Application and Numerous Documentation

• Most Welfare schemes require similar kind of data to be submitted
• Yet, applicants have to submit hard copies all the documents separately for each relief scheme
• There is no recommendation system customized as per profile of individual workers
• The application process has absolutely no place to indicate the current status relief transfer.

Different types of Schemes and Typical Documents Required for Application

Existing Linear Model of Relief & Welfare Transfer

Closing the Loop of Relief & Welfare Transfer with a product

https://anuragfol.io/migrant-worker-helper-app/