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Virtual Return and Reintegration Counselling. A webinar organized by the KMH

Collection of IOM portraits displayed as phone calls for virtual counselling
Collection of IOM portraits displayed as phone calls for virtual counselling

A webinar session on “Virtual Return and Reintegration Counselling: an online tool supporting informed decisions” was organized by the EU-IOM Knowledge Management Hub (KMH) on Wednesday 28 October 2020. Click here to access the recording!

The webinar introduced the innovative practice of Virtual Counselling, a project implemented by IOM and funded by the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, allowing migrants living in Germany to contact IOM staff via social media and online messaging services in 16 countries of origin and receive Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) counselling.

The possibility to directly connect with IOM staff in countries of origin and to discuss reintegration opportunities builds trust in the AVRR programmes and helps migrants to make an informed decision. Migrants are also informed about the latest developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic in their country of origin, respective quarantine measures and adapted modalities for the provision of reintegration assistance.

During this event moderated by the KMH, lessons learnt from the implementation of the project, including experiences from the countries of origin perspective as well as the counselling center, will be shared with participants by:
 

  • Dr. Patrick Schmidtke, Head of Group 72D, Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF)
  • Ms. Welella Negussie, Virtual Counselling Project Coordinator, IOM Germany
  • Ms. Magdalena Kruse, Head of the Raphaelswerk Hannover Counselling Center
  • Ms. Mariam Tokmazishvili, Migrant Resource Center (MRC) Coordinator, IOM Georgia
  • Mr. Ahmad Al- Bayati, Programme Assistant, AVRR Focal Point for Return and Reintegration projects, IOM Iraq 

The presentations were followed by an interactive Q&A session.

Visit the webinar section of the Platform to learn more about the upcoming webinars and navigate across the recorded ones.

Would you like to propose topics to cover in future webinars? Share your ideas with us here!

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