EU-IOM Joint Initiative

for Migrant Protection and Reintegration

COVID-19 has disrupted migration journeys across many parts of the world, often leaving migrants stranded, unable to continue with their journeys or to return to their countries of origin.

In the East and Horn of Africa, many migrants caught up in such a situation have found assistance at any one of the seven Migration Response Centres (MRCs) supported by the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa, alongside other donors. In all, there are 11 MRCs in the East and Horn of Africa.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has unveiled new MRC service guidelines, allowing the centres to better serve migrants and surrounding communities. The official launch coincided with International Migrants Day on 18 December and the fourth anniversary of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative two days earlier.

MRCs are open centres located along key migration routes in Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti. They fill critical gaps in the service delivery and protection for migrants in vulnerable situations, in coordination with partners.

Migrants are assisted with shelter, food, personal hygiene products, footwear and clothing, in addition to health and psychosocial assistance, among other types of assistance.

In addition, migrants wishing to return to their communities of origin are supported with assisted voluntary return. The recently opened centre in Mogadishu also supports returning migrants to reintegrate into their communities.

With over 6,000 registrations as of October, fewer migrants were registered at MRCs in the region in 2020 than in the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the centres extended their mobile outreach services to provide life-saving support to migrants in transit. This was in addition to providing minimum livelihood support for host communities, resulting in over 9,000 migrants and community members being assisted over the same period.  

The newly-launched guidelines set standards for the delivery of service to migrants at the MRCs and cover the step by step processes of assistance, from intake and protection assessment through primary service provision and referrals. The guidelines are now being rolled out in the region and adapted to local contexts. Separate guidelines on COVID-19 preparedness and response at MRCs have also been developed.

“The guidelines are an important tool in strengthening the assistance delivery at the MRCs and ensure common standards across the region,” says Julia Hartlieb, Senior Regional Programme Coordinator of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative in the Horn of Africa. Based on IOM’s Determinants of Vulnerability Model, the guideline support the identification and protection of migrants vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse.

The guidelines were developed with financial support of the Migration Resource Allocation Committee - whose contributors include Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, The Philippines, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America.

Among other funders of the MRCs in the region is the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the US Bureau of Population, Migration, Refugees, and Migration.

About the EU-IOM Joint Initiative

Launched in December 2016 and funded by the European Union (EU) Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, the programme brings together 26 African countries of the Sahel and Lake Chad region, the Horn of Africa, and North Africa, the EU and IOM around the goal of ensuring that migration is safer, more informed and better governed for both migrants and their communities.

For more information please contact the IOM Regional Office in Nairobi: Julia Hartlieb, email: jhartlieb@iom.int; Laura Boucsein, email: lboucsein@iom.int, or Wilson Johwa, email: wjohwa@iom.int.