In recent years, Sudan has experienced increased attention as a country of origin, transit and destination of mixed migration flows from Africa to Europe and the Middle East. Refugees and other migrants from the Horn of Africa, particularly Eritreans and Ethiopians and also Somali, Nigerians and Yemenis, often cross Sudan on the way further north to (1) reach Libya, either as a destination or as an embarkation point for Europe, or (2) on the way east towards the Middle East. The political, economic and security situation in the region remains unpredictable and it is likely that the continuous influx of refugees and other migrants into and through Sudan will persist.

The government has limited resources to support and provide basic services to migrants. In 2015, to help address this  important gap, IOM established the Migrant Response and Resource Centre (MRRC) in Khartoum, a key city of transit in Sudan for migrants on their way to North Africa and Europe, or the Middle East. The MRRC was set up through the Enhancing Protection and Improving Knowledge of the Risks of Irregular Migration in Sudan project. Originally envisaged to run from December 2014 to December 2015, the project was granted a three-month no cost extension by the donor and ended on 31 March 2016.

In January 2016, a second phase of the project was launched, running until December 2016, and overlapping by three months with the first phase. It had a budget of 3,900,000 Norwegian Krone and was funded by the Ministry of Justice of Norway. The second phase of the project aimed to further develop the MRRC by expanding referral networks for specialized assistance and by providing a broader range of services to migrants in Khartoum. 

In accordance with Contract Agreement SD1A134 between IOM and the Ministry of Justice of Norway, the project supported an evaluation to ”assess to what extent the project has contributed to its overall objective and achieved its results, and to evaluate if the project’s approach (design and implementation) was the right strategy.” IOM commissioned the Research Communications Group (RCG) to undertake the evaluation through a two-person team. This team had also conducted the evaluation of the project’s first phase and was able to draw readily from, and build on, the findings and learning of the previous evaluation.