EU-IOM Joint Initiative

for Migrant Protection and Reintegration

The discussions were frank and robust, allowing stakeholders to speak their minds. What emerged was a test case in transparency and accountability for a programme involved in the scale up of support to stranded migrants, many of whom opt to head back to their communities of origin. 

Since its launch, the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa (the EU-IOM Joint Initiative) has assisted over 4,000 migrants to return to their countries of origin. These are migrants, up to a quarter of whom are children, who get caught up in unforeseen difficulties as they traverse key migration routes out of the region. More than 6,000 have to date been supported with reintegration assistance to restart their lives.

The programme is designed to ensure that migration is safer, more informed and better governed for the benefit of both migrants and their communities. It also works to bolster the capacities of state and non-state actors in protection and migration governance, while also strengthening migration data and communication on migratory movements in order to support evidence-based programming.

But what of the future? Exactly three quarters into the four-year life of the programme appeared to be a good time to reflect on the milestones achieved, and to apply the lessons learnt based on recommendations from the programme beneficiaries, communities, governments, implementing partners, UN agencies and other stakeholders.

Thus, between September and October 2019, the teams within the programme’s priority countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan – countries of transit and origin - held 11 Participatory Programme Monitoring Meetings (PPMMs). With 386 (75 female, 311 male) migrant, government, partner and other stakeholders in attendance, this was part of a programme monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework to strengthen feedback and accountability mechanisms while fostering local ownership.

In Ethiopia – the region's main migrant sending country that also receives the largest number of migrants under the programme - three PPMMs took place in Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Regional state, and Amhara regions respectively. The participants described assisted voluntary return support as life-saving and praised the collaboration with the government and the training offered to migrants. They referred to the programme’s data management as being strong.

Stakeholders in Ethiopia also described the existence of a reintegration legal framework – the National Directive of Reintegration - as an opportunity and appreciated efforts to address the challenges of migration through training and the implementation of community projects.

In Sudan IOM was praised for the transparency inherent in the PPMMs, and for the involvement of women in community-based reintegration programmes. The move to provide national health insurance to migrant returnees was welcomed and described as unique.

Participants in Bosaso, Puntland, placed a high premium on the services available at the local migrant response centre (MRC) – an IOM-supported and government-run open facility for migrants in need of assistance. There was a suggestion for the Ethiopian migrant community to strengthen collaboration with the MRC on awareness raising activities. 

Both migrants and Ethiopian community leaders appreciated having their voice heard and welcomed the purpose of the interaction, saying there was a need to organise more regular participatory meetings to enhance understanding of migrants’ needs and the challenges faced in Bosaso.

In Mogadishu, the Somali capital, local implementing partners met with returnees and community leaders and opened up on the services available to returnees, including information technology courses, English literacy classes, ideas for environmentally-friendly businesses and engagement in awareness raising activities.

Returnees expressed the need to receive more counselling on business options in order to guide their choices prior to the finalization of a business plan - which is often required as part of economic reintegration support. Community leaders valued the community consultation approach leading up to the identification and implementation of community-based reintegration projects.

Other issues raised in Mogadishu included the difficulty entailed in sustaining microbusinesses in the long-run, along with obstacles standing in the way of accessing national identity documentation in the communities of return.

In order to improve the sustainability of reintegration, participants suggested that focus be placed on the promotion of peer-to-peer support networks and youth-led groups, as well as community-based reintegration projects that foster social cohesion.

Just as significant was the need - highlighted both in Mogadishu and in Hargeisa, Somaliland - to increase opportunities for training and job placement in order to complement the in-kind support offered to migrant returnees.

Overall, stakeholders in the three reintegration countries advocated for the reintegration process to be rolled out at a faster pace and for the enhancement of feedback mechanisms. They also lobbied for more community reintegration support to address drivers of migration beyond supporting the programme beneficiaries alone.

Amel Karrar Ibrahim Farah, a spokesperson for the Secretariat of Sudanese Working Abroad, which operates in close collaboration with the EU-IOM Joint Initiative in Sudan, said of the review gathering in Khartoum: “The meeting met all our requirements and expectations and had wonderful outcomes”

Participants in Djibouti's coastal village of Obock expressed appreciation for the services provided at the local MRC. Djibouti is a country of transit mainly for Ethiopian migrants seeking to get to the Gulf countries via Yemen. Many of those who run into difficulties are accommodated at the Obock MRC, making it the busiest in the Horn of Africa.

Migrant representatives at Obock made recommendations on how to improve the quality of IOM’s pre-departure services, including the type of food, as well as accommodation arrangement and sanitation facilities available at the MRC.