IOM, the UN Migration Agency, with cooperation from the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD), organized a capacity building training from 18 to 29 September at IOM’s African Capacity Building Centre (ACBC) in Moshi, Tanzania.

The training aimed to enhance migration governance and migrants’ protection in the IGAD region, which comprises Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.

The two-week event covered topics such as labour migration and border management, international migration law and migration and development. Thirty-four attendees selected from institutions belonging to the National Coordination Mechanisms (NCMs) came from diverse backgrounds including Ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Labour, Members of Parliament (MPs), and Immigration and Police Services from IGAD Member States.

“The training provided us with an opportunity to learn about current developments in the IGAD region, and I believe that we gained very relevant knowledge especially now that IGAD Member States are in the process of developing national policies on migration and border management,” said Mary Mideva Kezzah from the Ministry of the East Africa Community, Labour and Social Protection of Kenya.

“We strongly believe that collaboration between IOM/ACBC and IGAD is more than needed to enable the trainees to apply what they have learnt back in their respective countries,” said Colonel Mohammed Said Ahmed, from the Ministry of Interior of Sudan.

The training sessions resulted in a set of recommendations including the development of a training roadmap to be developed by the ACBC. The first draft of the document will be launched at the next training for IGAD participants from 30 October to 3 November in Moshi. 

Qasim Sufi, IOM Tanzania Chief of Mission, encouraged the participants to utilize this training to harness the fruits of migration and address its challenges in their home countries. “ACBC is the only IOM capacity building center for the whole of Africa, and it has been upgraded to host a forensic laboratory and the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS) training facility. The ACBC is eager to provide technical support to you in English, French, Arabic, Portuguese and Kiswahili,” he added.

The training was held under the auspices of the joint regional migration project that is being co-implemented by IOM and IGAD with the overall objective of building regional and national capacities for the implementation of the regional migration policy framework (RMPF).

The specific objectives of the project include the empowerment of members of the NCMs on migration through capacity building trainings and seminars, as well as advocacy activities that help address mixed migration in the region and mainstream migration into development planning and programming by Member States.