Lara White
Senior Labour Migration Specialist, International Organization for Migration, Beirut, Lebanon
"My masters degree in LAS and related graduate assistantships fostered within me a deep commitment to good governance and intercultural collaboration. This has helped me establish an enriching career as a policy maker and implementer in both government and the United Nations. "
Lara White is the Senior Specialist for Labour Migration in the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM – UN Migration Agency) country office in Lebanon where she oversees programming to support regular migration pathways as an alternative to irregular migration, including complementary labour pathways for Syrian refugees. Additionally, she supports diaspora engagement to facilitate investment of financial and human resources into health care and other key sectors. Prior to her current posting, Lara worked with various IOM project teams, regional offices, and headquarters to support the development, implementation and improvement of regular migration pathways, particularly those connected to labour. In addition to working with governments in countries of origin, transit and destination, this includes promoting the integration of migration into the global business and human rights agenda, particularly in Asia and the Pacific. Recent work includes supporting the expansion of regular labour pathways for aspirant migrants in Guatemala, supporting IOM's Migration Business and Human Rights teams in South and Southeast Asia, technical advice for CGF's People Positive Palm Project in Malaysia, labour market integration of Ukrainian refugees and migrants in Romania, and the promotion of safe migration mechanisms for outbound migrant workers from Tajikistan.