EU-IOM Joint Initiative

for Migrant Protection and Reintegration

Jemal Awol and Jemal Muhti have many things in common beyond their first name. They live in Ethiopia’s South Wollo Zone, Amhara region, and share similar migration experiences in the Middle East, a region they had hoped would provide them with a better life.

Now both 26-years-old, the two were not even 18 when they left Ethiopia and set off on the route through Djibouti that demands days of walking in a desert and hours on an open boat.

“I was in grade 10 when I migrated. My father had died that year. I missed the admission of the 10th grade national exam during the circumstances that followed his death. I could not sit the exam. I lost hope and got frustrated. That is when I considered going to Saudi,” says Jemal M.

He stayed in Saudi Arabia for almost two years before returning to Ethiopia when the kingdom tightened its policies around irregular migration.

“I did not save much to make a difference in my life,” Jemal says. “I was sending money to support my family and I was young with little knowledge about saving.”

Jemal A’s story is not very different. Influenced by his peers and blinded by ambitions, Saudi Arabia was a destination he thought could change his life for the better. Jemal was in grade 11 prior to making the decision to leave Ethiopia.

“I was greatly influenced by my friends. We all assumed that once we got to Saudi, we would have earned a lot of money.” But what awaited Jemal was imprisonment, after-which he returned home empty-handed in 2009.

But regret and frustration are not the only feelings experienced by migrant returnees. Some – like the two Jemals - return even more resolved to protect their friends and communities from the allure of the precarious path towards irregular migration.

The two Jemals are presently working as volunteers under the Forum on Sustainable Child Empowerment (FSCE), an implementing partner of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa (EU-IOM Joint Initiative). They are involved in supporting project staff entrusted with providing comfort to child returnees, orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).

The two have close contact with community members and the local government’s reintegration activities - especially work aimed at mitigating against OVC’s exposure to irregular migration.

“It is critical to involve community-based volunteers to facilitate the project activities and to follow up on returning minors and vulnerable children in the community,” says FSCE project coordinator Haimanot Seifemichael.

“Due to their first-hand experience in irregular migration, engaging them facilitates the smooth and effective implementation of the project,” continues Haimanot, making reference to the Jemals. “They are also very empathetic to other returnees. Although we only pay them pocket money, they assist us with dedication.”

Even though the volunteers have their migration experiences to draw from, they are provided with training on migration concepts, along with sustainable reintegration and working with vulnerable children.

Now 26, Jemal A recognizes that irregular migration is not getting any safer. “It has gotten very risky, especially for girls. They are facing many problems and abuse. Most come back with various psychological problems,” he says with clear concern in his voice.

To date, IOM has provided voluntary return and reintegration assistance to about 8,000 Ethiopian migrants under the EU-IOM Joint Initiative, of whom 20 percent are children. FSCE, which based in Amhara region, is among the 12 local and international implementing partners the programme works with.

 About the EU-IOM Joint Initiative

Launched in December 2016 with the support of 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 migration is safer, more informed and better governed for both migrants and their communities.