Migration

IOM launches Regional Strategy for East and Horn of Africa 2020-2024

Over the next five years, IOM will be consolidating its efforts in the East and Horn of Africa (EHoA) to enhance migrants’ and migration’s contribution to sustainable development, as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and promoted in IOM’s institution-wide approach to migration and sustainable development, contributing to the United Nations Decade of Action on the SDGs. The IOM will pursue this by working more strategically with its Member States, the African Union and the regional economic communities (RECs), including by supporting key strategic priorities as defined in national development plans and regional and continental frameworks.

Key to this will be the mainstreaming of migration in development planning and in the rollout of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks (UNSDCFs) and the associated United Nations Common Country Analyses (CCAs), and the building of stronger partnerships within the United Nations Development System and beyond. Supporting mobility dimensions of continental and regional integration will also be essential, in partnership with the African Union, RECs (such as the Intergovernmental Authority on
Development (IGAD) and the East African Community (EAC)), and individual Member States, as well as other forms of regional cooperation.

Since early 2020, the East and Horn of Africa region has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. While short-term impacts are already being felt most acutely by vulnerable groups, the longerterm and socioeconomic, development-related and humanitarian consequences are yet to be fully determined. These outcomes will continue to impact the needs of migrants and other populations on the move, host communities and governments, and must, therefore, be fully reflected in IOM programming, which has already shifted in response. This strategy should, therefore, be read in light of these developments and will be reviewed periodically to ensure the necessary response to address ongoing and emerging impacts of the pandemic and other significant regional and global developments.

“It is my great pleasure to launch this regional strategy for the East and Horn of Africa, which is centred around the human rights of migrants, the strategic priorities of our Member States and the mobility dimensions of the regional integration agenda of the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities, in particular the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). It provides a gender-sensitive framework for engaging with partners to facilitate mobility; promote inclusion; provide assistance and protection to people at risk or affected by crisis; mitigate drivers of, and promote durable solutions to, displacement and irregular migration; reduce the incidence of irregular migration; and promote improved governance of migration in the region and beyond. It is my hope that this strategy becomes a useful and living tool for IOM missions in the region for supporting Member States in leveraging migration for sustainable development and ensuring that “no one is left behind.” said Mohammed Abdiker, Regional Director for East and Horn of Africa at the International Organization for Migration.

Full report can be downloaded at iom.int