The EU-IOM Knowledge Management Hub has just released the second issue of the Sustainable Reintegration Knowledge Bites Series. Click here to read it.

The Sustainable Reintegration Knowledge Bites Series, launched in October 2020, aims to present findings pertaining to sustainable reintegration outcomes emerging from analyses based on the Reintegration Sustainability Survey data and other monitoring and evaluation (M&E) data centrally available on IOM’s institutional case management system. This series is designed to bring such findings to the attention of reintegration practitioners and policy-makers worldwide, as well as to inform and disseminate good practices, lessons learned and recommendations. The data presented in the series has been collected in the framework of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative and other EU-IOM Actions supporting migrant protection and sustainable reintegration.

The first Knowledge Bite gave a first indication of some of the factors that can contribute to or hamper sustainable reintegration outcomes. Notably, the results revealed that returnees benefiting from economic reintegration activities have on average higher sustainable reintegration scores compared to returnees not benefiting from them, and that a context-specific approach to sustainable reintegration is necessary for returnees’ sustainable reintegration in their country of origin.

Building on these findings, this second Knowledge Bite explores additional factors that contribute to higher levels of sustainable reintegration. Specifically, the analysis in this report focuses on investigating sustainable reintegration outcomes following referrals and understanding the effect of referrals on returnees’ satisfaction with the reintegration assistance received.

The main results suggest that returnees benefiting from at least one reintegration activity through referrals, have on average lower sustainable reintegration scores across the economic and social dimensions, compared to returnees benefiting from direct assistance uniquely across these two dimensions. Similarly, the results suggest that returnees benefiting from reintegration assistance through referrals display lower levels of satisfaction with the reintegration programme.

The results presented in this report point toward the need for in-depth qualitative analysis to further investigate the observed trends and patterns.

The development and production of this series is supported by the EU-IOM Knowledge Management Hub (KMH), which was established in September 2017 under the EU-funded Pilot Action on Voluntary Return and Sustainable, Community-Based Reintegration in Southern Africa. The KMH aims at supporting the implementation of the EU-IOM Actions addressing migrant protection and sustainable reintegration in Africa and Asia by ensuring coherent voluntary return and reintegration approaches, harmonising M&E activities, setting up knowledge management tools, and producing knowledge products.

Please feel free to share further with colleagues and counterparts who might be interested to learn about the Sustainable Reintegration Knowledge Bites Series and the release of the second report.

Do not hesitate to get in touch with us for more information.