The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is supporting the establishment of livestock farmer groups in Burkina Faso, in collaboration with the local government and with funding from the European Union. The goal: To help returning migrants rebuild their lives back home.
IOM has provided about 500 sheep, rams, oxen and donkeys to 99 Burkinabe who returned from Libya and Algeria in 2018, the organization announced in a statement on its homepage.
Livestock and training for returned migrants
In a statement, IOM said to support the migrants' sustainable reintegration, the returnees received - in addition to the livestock - training in business management, cooperative operation and livestock farming techniques. Training sessions, provided throughout the year by the technical partners of the National Employment Agency (ANPE) and the Regional Directorates of Animal and Fisheries Resources, are supposed to teach the migrants how to farm successfully and sustainably.
"The training enabled me to learn the techniques of cattle fattening," Iryassa, a returning migrant from south-central Burkina Faso, told IOM."Farmers gave us useful tips. [...] Now we can work in our country and, thank God, we will succeed."
New opportunities back home
In 2018, 1,249 Burkinabe migrants received reintegration assistance under the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration. Funded by the European Union, this project aims to help voluntary returnees and to sustainably reintegrate returning migrants.