This first annual monitoring report of the IOM Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) Programs in Mexico and North of Central America countries, informed by five earlier summary reports, has two primary objectives. The first goal is to present mobility flow trends of AVR program beneficiaries to and from El Salvador, Guatemala–Belize, Honduras and Mexico since March 2020, with direct linkages to the COVID-19 pandemic.1 Overall, AVR programs in Guatemala and Mexico have assisted more than 4,700 migrants since November 2018.2 Since the pandemic emerged in March 2020, AVR programs have seen a sharp decrease in the number of people seeking support to return to their countries of origin. However, it is important to note that the numbers have started to increase since March 2021.

The second objective is to present the findings of monitoring surveys of AVR beneficiaries from March 2020 to April 2021. The purpose of this monitoring exercise is to capture the experiences of participants of IOM AVR programs in El Salvador, Guatemala–Belize, Honduras and Mexico.3As such, this exercise and the resulting insights are new and important features of the AVR programs in Mexico and the four North of Central America countries and informed monitoring reports in June 2020, August 2020, September 2020, November 2020 and March 2021. AVR Mexico started its monitoring exercise in October 2020.