EU-IOM Joint Initiative

for Migrant Protection and Reintegration

In 2017 three youths left Hargeisa, Somaliland, crossing into Ethiopia, Sudan - finally reaching Libya from where they had planned to cross into Europe.

However, a year later the three were among those lucky enough to return to their communities of origin, not from Europe but from Libya. They had been held with scores of other African migrants in detention centres across the conflict-ridden country, often in inhumane conditions.

Their departure was facilitated by the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa while reception and assistance in Somaliland was supported by the National Displacement and Refugee Agency.

Upon their arrival in Hargeisa, the city of their childhood, the trio - Amin, Abdlgani and Abdisamed - qualified for and were offered reintegration support. They expressed a preference for establishing individual photo businesses but needed support with equipment and materials.

Over a year later, the three joined seven others in a three-day training for migrants who had returned from Libya. The aim of the course, from 15-17 March 2020, was to equip returnees with basic skills in visual storytelling and photo techniques, encompassing both theory and practice.

The training was facilitated by a young local photographer, Mustafa Saeed, working from the Hargeisa Hub - an innovation centre run by the NGO Shaqodoon.

Emphasis was placed on assisting the participants to not shy away from approaching photography with the intimacy of their feelings, allowing them to create images that could reflect their personal stories and background.

According to Mustafa: “Photography represents the perfect tool for returnee migrants who are trying to find themselves again at home, after what they have been through and the trust some of them might have lost. It can be a way to re-introduce themselves to these elements, to see and think differently’’.