Piloting of a mentoring approach as part of the ORION project

Mentors – who are community members (including former returnees) – serve as a link between returnees and the community, and help returnees to implement their reintegration plans. The mentors also play a key role in developing networks and raising awareness about reintegration among relevant local authorities, institutions and non-governmental and civil society organizations in their communities.

Currently, 216 returnees are part of this pilot in Guinea, Morocco and Senegal. Overall, they have reported that the mentors have helped them gain more trust in the reintegration process. A deeper involvement of local authorities and other stakeholders has been noted.

The OPERATIONALISING AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO REINTEGRATION (ORION) project’s overall objective is to contribute to sustainable reintegration of returning migrants by:

1. Developing a Reintegration Handbook and piloting a case management approach to promote sustainable reintegration across all dimensions (economic, social and psycho-social);
2. Reinforcing evidence-based programming with robust monitoring processes and data collection
3. Strengthening the capacities of local stakeholders in countries of origin to support reintegration.