Dakar – The Regional Office for West and Central Africa of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) conducted from 16 to 18 January 2023 a training of trainers’ workshop on the “K-par-Cas 2” toolkit. This training brought together 25 participants from 13 different countries, including IOM MHPSS focal points in the region, government representatives, and local associations working in transit centers for migrants, as well as returnees.

Together they learned about this innovative and creative tool that aims to promote the psychosocial well-being and mental health of migrants in transit and returnees to build self-confidence and facilitate their reintegration process. “K-par-Cas 2” was developed in 2021 through a collaboration between The Ink Link and IOM. It is an adaptation and extension of the first version developed in 2018 by Olivier Coldefy, a psychologist expert, and Laure Garancher, a psychologist, illustrator and co-founder of The Ink Link.

This toolbox facilitates dialogue and self-representation through sets of cards showing objects, landscapes, people, emotions, and skills. Used in individual or group interviews with migrants in host countries, in transit, or upon return, it allows migrants to value their stories and achievements, and those supporting them to gather information needed to provide care for each person in a fun and caring environment.

For three days, the participants actively exchanged on the different challenges related to returnees’ psychosocial well-being and mental health while learning how to use the toolkit. “The training workshop was an excellent professional enrichment experience. The toolkit is easy to use and practical for the various groups of migrants we regularly work with,” said Abib N’Diaye, a civil society actor involved in mental health and psychosocial support issues in Senegal and representative of the NGO COOPI. “With kit 1, migrants are offered the opportunity to verbalize their experiences and 'speak out'. The link with the other kits makes it possible to talk about the migration itineraries, identify the potential resources which the person can build on to project themselves towards a new start in life. It is an original, flexible, and easy-to-deploy tool,” he added.

All of them committed to train actors and implementing partners in the field, upon their return to their respective countries.

This training of trainers is part of IOM’s ongoing efforts to provide psychosocial and mental health support to beneficiaries of return and reintegration assistance. “This tool provides a qualitative improvement in terms of the dynamics of supporting migrants with specific psychosocial needs and/or mental health issues. The card game offers an opportunity to highlight the relationship of trust between professionals and migrants, who have already experienced a great deal of questioning along the way. The returnees will be able to share their stories and difficulties as well as their ambitions in a playful way. Of course, this tool will be used by trained professionals with notions of active listening, empathy, reformulation, and psychosocial support,” said Emilie Sepulchre, Project Officer (Mental Health and Psychosocial Support).

This initiative supports returnee resilience and is part of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration implemented by IOM and funded by the European Union.

For more information, please contact Emilie SEPULCHRE, Project Officer (Mental Health and Psychosocial Support) at IOM Regional Office in Dakar, esepulchre@iom.int.