HUCF

Global Migrant Worker Network

A grassroots movement connecting migrant workers across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East — founded and led by those who have lived migration themselves.

Global Migrant Worker Network (GMWN) did not begin as an institution or program — it began as a conversation. With the support from Humanity United in 2020, migrant workers and survivor leaders across the Gulf, East and West Africa, and South and Southeast Asia began connecting. What was missing was not leadership — it was a shared platform. Today, GMWN has grown into a global movement connecting over 23,000 migrant workers across 30+ countries — grounded in lived experience, collective power, and the conviction that those closest to the realities of migration must shape the solutions.

"Grounded in the belief that every migrant worker deserves to know that someone stands beside them."
— GMWN founding principle

Leadership pathways training: scholarships, coaching, and mentorship to advance survivor leaders into positions of influence across civil society, policy, and global governance.

Collective power & advocacy: participation in global forums and multi-stakeholder convenings — including UN spaces — connecting workers, governments, and institutions.

Wellbeing & peer support: cross-border solidarity, creative and healing-focused initiatives, and community spaces that foster trust, belonging, and long-term resilience.

Emergency humanitarian relief: on-the-ground food distribution, shelter, and essential medical support for workers in acute crisis — deployed through trusted frontline networks.

Migrant workers form the backbone of economies worldwide, yet remain among the most vulnerable to exploitation, wage suppression, and systemic exclusion. For too long, they have been consulted but not centered. The systems that govern their lives — from recruitment to employment — are too often shaped without their input.

GMWN exists to shift that balance of power — positioning migrant worker-survivor leaders as decision-makers, strategists, and institutional actors who reshape migration and labor systems from within.

“GMWN feels like a global village — a place where people like me, with lived experience, come together with collective strength and voice.”
— Bhim Shrestha, Nepal

“GMWN was created by migrant workers and is led by migrant workers. There is a mutual understanding and respect in this movement.”

— Lucy Turay, Sierra Leone

1. Resource frontline networks directly

Invest in networks already present, trusted, and operational — so resources reach workers without delay, not filtered through intermediaries.

2. Enable rapid humanitarian response

Build capacity for emergency disbursement when crises escalate — covering food security, shelter, medical access, and safe communication channels.

3. Model accountable, movement-aligned philanthropy

Advance a giving model where donors coordinate with — not around — the networks closest to the people they seek to serve.

Charitable fund

Global Migrant Worker Network

Contact

San Francisco

Washington D.C.