Project for migrants, refugees integration launched
A project has been launched to assist and integrate returned migrants and refugees into society.
The Support Services for Migrants and Refugees in Transit (SMART) programme will also help to reduce the threat of irregular migration to the West by utilising social and behavioural change communication activities.
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Beneficiaries
The Project Coordinator, Human Rights and Justice of Caritas Ghana, Sister (Sr) Regina Ignatia Aflah, who launched the project in Accra last Thursday, noted that SMART would target 18,000 direct beneficiaries and more than 145,000 indirect through different mediums and interventions.
“This will be achieved through the establishment of migrants and refugees call centre, inter-sectorial coordination mechanism which is aimed to protect the interest of these people, advocacy and dialogue meetings on migrants and refugees rights, among others,” she said.
The SMART project
The SMART project is an initiative of Caritas Ghana, a charity organisation of the Catholic Church.
The launch brought together representatives from Caritas Ghana, development partners, government agencies, the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), among others.
“The plan is to promote youth self-employment and empowerment, manage migration and eliminate its negative impact on society,” she stated.
Sr Aflah further stated that the project would be implemented in nine of the 16 regions, namely; Ahafo, Bono-East, Greater Accra, Northern, Upper East, Upper West, Volta, Western and Oti regions.
Support
Consequently, she called for support to enable the project to harvest as many outcomes as possible to secure the future of the country’s labour force which was under threat due to the menace of irregular migration.
“We are available for discussion with our multilateral and bilateral partners to enable us to raise the needed budget deficit,” Sr Aflah said.
Critical role
For his part, the Assistant Commissioner of Immigration, Isaac Ghansah, noted that due to the critical role migration played in global development, there was the need to ensure that it was safe, orderly, regular and responsible.
“This, I believe, will ensure that it is properly harnessed towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially in respect of Goal 1 (No Poverty); Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) ;Goal 10 (Reduced Inequality — Safe, Orderly, Regular and Responsible Migration) and Goal 17 (Partnerships to achieve the goals) which the SMART Project seeks to contribute to, ” he said .
Interventions
Additionally, Mr Ghansah noted that the service had, over the years, embarked on a number of interventions geared towards safe, orderly, and regular migration.
Also, Mr Ghansah said the GIS had also provided assistance to returned migrants and collaborate with other stakeholders to support them in the reintegration process.
"In 2022, 2,847 were received by and offered assistance to ensure their reintegration into their various communities. Out of this number, 1,905 were males while 942 were females," he said.
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