Accra - On 18 December, International Migrants Day (IMD) is commemorated across the world. This year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) set out to humanize people on the move and their many journeys. Focused on highlighting the diversity of the migrant population, IOM Ghana, this year, organised two major activities: a Diaspora Dialogue in the capital, Accra, and a series of community engagements in the border community of Aflao.

On 16 December, the United Nations Network on Migration (UNNM) – of which IOM is a member, the European Union (EU) and the Government of Ghana joined forces to commemorate Migrants Day in Accra by hosting a ‘Diaspora Dialogue’. This Diaspora Dialogue was organized in collaboration with the Diaspora Affairs Office of the Office of the President at the Accra International Conference Centre. Over 250 representatives from government, UN entities, EU, Ghanaian diaspora, and the private sector gathered, in-person and online, to explore innovative solutions to improve responses to challenges Ghanaian Diaspora encounter in their efforts to contribute to Ghana’s socio-economic development, including investment and job creation.

On 20 and 21 December, under the theme ‘Engaging the community to make migration work for all’, the IMD commemoration in Aflao included a series of community engagements, funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as part of the project “Improving Border Management Capacity for Responding to Public Health Crises including Infectious Diseases/COVID-19", and coordinated by partnering Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Community Aid for Rural Development (CARD).

In a stakeholder meeting, border community members and border management agencies (BMAs) discussed how migration can be managed and the role the border communities can play to help ensure adequate preparedness against public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health is of particular priority in the border communities due to its impact on cross-border trade and livelihoods. Additional activities included a radio talk show, community sensitization activities, and a football match that brought together over 100 border community members including officers of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) to foster social cohesion among border management agencies and the border community members.

“This year, IOM Ghana’s Migrants Day activities were designed to contribute to changing the narrative and wide-spread misperceptions that circulate around migration. We know, if managed well, migration benefits all of us – migrants themselves, as well as the host communities and communities of origin. IOM is continuing its work, together with our government partners, to ensure that no migrant and no returnee is left behind in Ghana,” said IOM Ghana Chief of Mission, Fatou Diallo Ndiaye.

Last but not least, IOM Ghana collected stories and voices providing a diversity of perspectives on how migration can indeed benefit all of us. “In our border community, we experience the benefits and the challenges of migration firsthand. The positive is that we are able to trade across the border. The challenge is the spread of diseases such as COVID-19. I am happy that we have been considered as important stakeholders on this Migrants Day to discuss how we can support our communities to be able to benefit more from migration and to respond to public health emergencies,” said a community member in Aflao.

For more information, please contact Juliane Reissig, Public Information Officer at IOM Ghana, at jreissig@iom.int