Mbankomo – 861 business plans of 973 Cameroonian migrants who returned mainly from Libya, Niger, Algeria over the past 12 months were approved (on 23-24 January) by the sub-committee on reintegration of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in Cameroon.

The 861 business plans that will be funded include individual activities (770) as well as group-based activities (91) in the fields of agriculture (4,7%), livestock breeding (21%), retail (43%), services (27%) and professional training (4,4%).

These business plans, which are developed jointly by the returnees, IOM and the Ministry for Youth and Civic Education (MINJEC), will allow them to start an income-generating activity with the aim of making their return to Cameroon and their socio-economic reintegration more sustainable – as it was the case for some previous returnees.

“I started off with 10 goats and now I have 25. This activity allows me to be reintegrated in the society and to take care of my daughter's needs” says Alphonse. Returned from Libya in 2017, this young Cameroonian has now started a livestock breeding activity in Yaoundé Mvog-Ada neighborhood.   

In addition to the approval of the business plans, the committee has also discussed strategies to implement community-based reintegration activities in Cameroon and explored ways to strengthen the cooperation with government-sponsored initiatives to support the socio-economic integration of young people.

Co-chaired by the European Union and the Cameroonian Ministry for External Relations (MINREX), the sub-committee on reintegration is composed by representatives of several Cameroonian ministries, including MINJEC, the Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER), the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries (MINEPIA), the Ministry for SMEs, Social economy and craftsmanship (MINPMEESA) and the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family (MINPROFF).

The project in Cameroon is part of the larger EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration which aims to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration governance through the development of rights-based and development-focused policies and processes on protection and sustainable reintegration. The EU-IOM Joint Initiative, funded by the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, has been set up in close cooperation with and currently covers a total of 26 African countries.

For more information, please contact Serena Pescatore, in charge of Communication and Awareness-Raising at IOM Cameroon at spescatore@iom.int ; Tel: +237 657 10 30 74