Accra – Out of the 600,000 migrants identified in Libya by IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), over 360,000 come from West and Central Africa, 11% of which are Ghanaians (42,000). While not all of them are looking for assistance, many of the returned migrants who received support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), shared that they did not know about the risks they could face while travelling irregularly.

To strengthen efforts to raise awareness of the dangers of irregular migration among Ghanaian youths and to discuss how to best engage with communities in migration-prone areas across the country, IOM trained 16 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) last week (28-29 January 2020).

“By working together with CSOs from all over Ghana, we want to ensure ownership, sustainability and a multiplying effect of our joint messages,” said Florian Braendli, Project Manager at IOM Ghana.

Participating organisations are closely connected with the local communities and are knowledgeable of the local context and culture. They are therefore important actors to tailor and disseminate reliable information on the risks of irregular migration, to counter the stigmatisation of returnees and address their potential psycho-social needs.

“Education and awareness raising on irregular migration is everyone's responsibility,” said Ernestina Adu, Advisor at the Ghanaian-German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration, during the two-day workshop.

“Young people in our communities continue to embark on the perilous irregular journeys, across the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea, in the hope of reaching Europe, unaware of the real extent of the danger involved. Awareness raising is therefore very important,” said Hajia Fati Seidu Tambro, Executive Director of Sung Foundation, a participating CSO.

The training workshop, organized as part of the project “Assistance to Ghanaian returnees and potential migrants”, funded by the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), also created connections between the CSOs and other stakeholders, including Ghana Immigration Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, which will help coordinate activities and create synergies going forward.

Richard O. Brinfor, Officer in Charge of the Migration Information Bureau, said: "We have a good and lasting relationship with IOM. This training will equip the CSOs for the essential collaboration needed to achieve our common goals."

Since May 2017, IOM has facilitated the return of over 1,500 Ghanaians, primarily from Libya, but also from Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and beyond the region. Of these returns, more than half have returned to the Ashanti, Western, Northern and former Brong Ahafo regions selected for this upcoming awareness campaign.

Since then, IOM has organised various awareness-raising activities with the support of the GIZ Ghana as well as the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration. Over 100,000 individuals have been reached through radio programmes, over 12,000 through awareness-raising sessions in schools and almost 80,000 through community-awareness activities. Working with the CSOs across 6 regions, will ensure that more potential migrants can be reached.

For more information, please contact Juliane Reissig at IOM Ghana, Email: jreissig@iom.int, phone: +233 302 742 930