ILO Safe Migration Student Essay Competition

The International Labour Organization is asking university students in the East and Horn of Africa to write about safe, regular labour migration. Run through the ILO's Better Regional Migration Management (BRMM) Programme, funded by the UK's FCDO, the competition sends the best essay to Zanzibar to be presented to ministers and senior officials.

What you get:

• First place: an invitation to the Fifth Labour Migration Advisory Group meeting in Zanzibar, Tanzania, 16 to 18 December 2026, with travel, accommodation, daily subsistence allowance (DSA) and visa costs covered by the ILO
• First place: the chance to present your essay to ministers and senior officials, with ILO support preparing a five to seven minute presentation
• Second place: a plaque and publication of the essay on the ILO and regional websites
• Third place: a certificate and publication of the essay on the ILO website
• You keep the copyright to your essay

What you'll do:

• Write an essay of 1,200 to 1,500 words, excluding references, in English or French, on the theme Young Voices on Safe Migration for Work
• Answer a suggested question or a related one, for example why some young people choose irregular routes, or what young people should check before accepting a job abroad
• Make a clear, evidenced argument with sources and at least one practical recommendation
• Email the anonymised essay and an entry form to the ILO with the subject line Essay Competition, Country

Key dates:

• Call opens 3 November 2026
• Entries close 25 November 2026, 23:59 East Africa Time
• Judging 26 to 27 November 2026
• Winners notified 30 November 2026
• Fifth Labour Migration Advisory Group meeting in Zanzibar, Tanzania, 16 to 18 December 2026; awards on 18 December

More information:

• Full guidelines: the ILO's University Essay Writing Competition PDF, linked from the news release
• Questions to Yonas Berhane at zewdiey@ilo.org before the closing date

• Currently enrolled in a bachelor's or postgraduate programme at a university in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania or Uganda
• Aged 18 or over on the closing date
• Individual entries only, one essay per student
• Original, unpublished work; copied text and text produced by AI tools is disqualified
• The essay must not show your name; send it as a Word or PDF file with a separate entry form (name, university, faculty, year of study, country, email, phone, a copy of your student ID and a signed originality statement)
• To take up first place you need a valid passport and must be able to travel
• ILO staff, consultants, their immediate family and judges cannot enter