Published on 20 Aug 2025

Strengthening Pacific Resilience Through Circular Labour Mobility

Projects
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Nick Leffler Organisational Design + Change Lead Contact me

When COVID-19 intensified development challenges across the Pacific, MFAT needed a fresh approach to its labour mobility support. Allen + Clarke led a comprehensive redesign that put Pacific voices at the centre, engaging with over 50 entities across nine countries. 

Key impacts included:

 

  • Extensive engagement with nine Pacific nations ensured the programme addressed real needs rather than assumptions, creating stronger local ownership.
  • Our end-to-end approach covering recruitment through reintegration delivers more comprehensive outcomes for workers, families and communities.
  • The flexible, modular design with three budget options (from $10.2M to $21.6M) allows scaling support according to available resources and priorities.
Our collaborative approach created a holistic framework that aims to enhance worker wellbeing, build community resilience, and deliver more equitable benefits across the region.

Adapting to a changing landscape

The Pacific region faced growing economic pressures. Small formal workforces struggled to absorb graduates, while demand for Pacific workers surged, with New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) worker cap nearly quadrupling to 19,000. This growth strained Labour Sending Units (LSUs) as they managed higher worker volumes and community impacts. 

Our redesign navigated complex cultural contexts across nine diverse Pacific nations while addressing concerns about family wellbeing over work absence, worker support systems in New Zealand and equitable distribution of benefits across communities. 

 

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Resources Block
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Projects

Empowering Pacific Nations Through Labour Mobility: Supporting Pacific Labour Mobility Regional Assessment

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Projects

Building sustainable fisheries capacity across the Pacific: Review of Te Pātuitanga

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Pristine white sand beach with leaning palm trees alongside crystal-clear turquoise waters under bright blue sky with scattered clouds in Tuvalu
Projects

Connecting Islands and Outcomes: A Community-Centered Evaluation of Tuvalu Programme 2018 - 2021

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Pacific voices at the centre

We engaged directly with government officials, LSUs, industry representatives, community groups and workers across all nine Pacific countries. We hosted workshops with key New Zealand stakeholders to develop a revised Outcomes Framework and developed tiered implementation options reflecting different resource requirements. 

We then consulted with Pacific partners on the proposed options to ensure alignment with priorities. 

Our analysis identified several systemic challenges to be addressed through the programme redesign:

  • Inefficient recruitment processes that often lacked inclusivity. 

  • Inconsistent worker wellbeing support in New Zealand. 

  • Families struggling during workers' absence. 

  • Limited pre-departure preparation and reintegration support. 

  • Missed opportunities to maximise long-term benefits. 

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Colourful speech bubbles overlapping silhouettes in conversation

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Redesigning the programme to reflect the changed context

The final programme redesign included: 

  • Redefined purpose and outcomes of Programme to response to identified challenges and focus the programme on improving outcomes for workers, their families and communities. 

  • Updated Programme logic including short, medium and long-term outcomes to enable achievement of the overall goal of relevant, effective and enhanced circular labour mobility participation. 

  • Changed delivery modality including funding for additional staff in Pacific Labour Sending Units with supporting technical assistance through a professional services provider. 

  • Costings and implications for three possible tiers of support which provided MFAT with a comprehensive understanding of the risks and opportunities of different levels of investment. 

  • Implementation Roadmap including proposed governance arrangements, implementation activities and critical risk/management strategies. 

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Our end-to-end approach covering recruitment through reintegration delivers more comprehensive outcomes for workers, families and communities.

Meaningful results: benefits for all stakeholders

The redesigned programme delivers clear value for everyone involved: 

  • For Pacific countries - more efficient, inclusive labour mobility systems that spread economic benefits while minimising negative impacts. 

  • For workers and families - better support, preparation, and clearer pathways to maximise skills and savings. 

  • For New Zealand - stronger bilateral relationships with nine Pacific nations and a reputation as a trusted regional partner. The programme now supports up to 20,750 workers annually, along with their families and communities. By building capacity within LSUs and creating sustainable systems, these positive impacts will continue well beyond the implementation period. 

Interconnected coloured pathways forming abstract network diagram
Interconnected coloured pathways forming abstract network diagram