This reintegration evaluation of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative provides an assessment of reintegration outcomes after three years of program implementation, on the eve of the COVID 19 pandemic. It finds that the intervention has been both relevant and effective, with an 84 per cent beneficiary satisfaction rate and substantive evidence of positive outcomes for returnees in recovering their self-respect and re-establishing their livelihoods. The program’s innovative ‘integrated’ approach shows strong results for the combination of economic and psychosocial assistance, however limited budgets and timelines for medical, shelter and education assistance were often insufficient in the face of large-scale needs.

The evaluation built on the evidence base of more than 10,000 surveys conducted with reintegration beneficiaries in the Sahel and Lake Chad region by gathering qualitative data during field missions in January and February 2020. A team of 10 internal and external evaluators conducted more than 350 in-depth interviews in total with frontline IOM staff, government officials and local NGO key informants and reintegration beneficiaries in Senegal, The Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Cameroon, Ghana and Burkina Faso.