BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government has partnered with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to strengthen access to social protection for vulnerable migrant workers and their families.

The partnership aims at ensuring uninterrupted access to essential services such as food, health, nutrition, education and labour schemes when households move within the state.

Sources said a technical assistance agreement was signed by additional chief secretary of Labour and Employees’ State Insurance department Chithra Arumugam and country director of the World Food Programme, India Elisabeth Faure in the presence of development commissioner Anu Garg on Friday.

As part of the agreement, an integrated digital platform to track migrant households will be developed to enable portability across programmes including PDS, PM POSHAN, ICDS, school enrollment, immunisation, health services and labour benefits.

Multi-modal alerts, dashboards and data analytics will support officials in ensuring timely service delivery.

Arumugam said, “Every migrant household can now rely on a predictable social protection safety net wherever they are inside the state.”

Faure said the collaboration will strengthen social safety nets, particularly for nutrition for migrant workers. “It will ensure that all migrant women, men and children access the food and essential services when and where they need them,” added Faure.

With nearly 100 million migrants in India contributing around 10 per cent of the national GDP, this initiative is expected to address critical gaps in access to social protection. The state government has decided to pilot the project in Khurda district.