The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Ghana has intensified efforts to promote the sustainable reintegration of returnee migrants through livelihood empowerment, psychosocial support, and strategic media engagement aimed at curbing irregular migration.
In its 2024 Annual Overview of Returns and Reintegration Report, the IOM revealed that 937 out of 1,723 returnees who came back to Ghana during the year received economic support to help them rebuild their lives.
The support, which included vocational tools, business equipment, and start-up kits, was designed to enable returnees to establish micro-enterprises and achieve long-term financial independence.
According to the report, 630 returnees also benefited from psychosocial assistance to help them recover from the emotional trauma and distress associated with migration experiences. These interventions involved counselling sessions, trauma healing, and community-based mental health support programmes to promote social reintegration.
The IOM further provided social assistance to 73 vulnerable returnees, offering temporary housing, healthcare access, educational support for dependents, and referrals to social welfare services to stabilise their return and ensure basic dignity.
“In 2024, IOM provided substantial support to returning migrants through a total of 1,222 reintegration activities, including microbusiness initiatives, psychosocial counselling, and vocational skills training,” the report stated.
The IOM explained that its Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) and Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) programmes ensured that return migration remained safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable.
Beyond direct reintegration assistance, the organisation has also been investing in media capacity-building as part of its broader strategy to address irregular migration.
At a recent training session in northern Ghana, the IOM engaged journalists and media practitioners on adopting ethical, accurate, and human-centred approaches in migration reporting. The training, part of the “ATUU – A Ghanaian-European Safe and Prosperous People’s Mobility Project on Migration Governance”, was supported by the European Union Delegation to Ghana.
The initiative aims to strengthen media advocacy to educate the public on the dangers of irregular migration while promoting informed decisions about mobility.
Dr. Stephen Tindi, a lecturer at the University of Media, Arts and Communication (UNiMAC), who facilitated a session at the training, identified economic hardship, unemployment, social instability, and environmental stress as key factors driving migration.
He noted that according to the IOM report, 60 per cent of returnees left Ghana in search of better employment opportunities, while 51 per cent cited unstable living conditions and 49 per cent pointed to unemployment as their main reasons for migrating.
Dr. Tindi urged journalists to help reshape migration narratives by highlighting real-life reintegration success stories and dispelling the myth of greener pastures abroad. “The media must be well-informed on migration issues to promote regular migration and discourage risky irregular routes,” he said.
Through its integrated approach — combining economic empowerment, psychosocial support, and strategic communication — the IOM says it hopes to build a future where migration is a matter of choice, not necessity.
