Benin City - From 8-10 April, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) organized a workshop in Benin City, Edo State, to build the capacity of trainers to monitor and evaluate the impact of the voluntary return and reintegration of Nigerian migrants. 54 trainees from governmental agencies and civil society organizations attended the event.

As of 8 April 2019, over 12,000 persons have returned to Nigeria under the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration. These returnees are eligible for either individual, collective or community-based reintegration.

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) helps in measuring the sustainability of reintegration. M&E tools help to determine whether returnees have reached economic self-sufficiency, social stability and psychosocial wellbeing, and aim to promote migration that occurs as a matter of choice rather than by force.

“After this training, I have a better knowledge of monitoring and evaluation, and I am also aware of the various phases of monitoring, the IOM approach and the need to respect the rights of migrants,” said one participant at the three-day event.

The aim of the training is to establish a monitoring and evaluation expert team (MET) that can be deployed to monitor the progress of beneficiaries.

Additionally, trainers gained in-depth knowledge of IOM’s Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) monitoring tools and techniques to support, supervise and train other staff members in their respective institutions using the necessary skills and knowledge acquired thereby expanding the MET in their states. This included the correct interview techniques that should be employed when interviewing vulnerable individuals and an overview of IOM’s data protection principles.

Finally, the MET will be required to report to their respective state level Case Management Expert Teams (CMET) established by IOM and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs (NCFRMI) to improve the case management level coordination in the reintegration of returning migrants.

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For more information, please contact: Jorge Galindo, IOM Nigeria, Tel: +234 815 5263 827, Email: jgalindo@iom.int