Practices by Stakeholder 3

Type of Practices by Stakeholder: 
States of origin
Description: 

Needs and skills assessments of returnees

Some citizens may return with few or no assets, while others may return having acquired skills or assets abroad. Assessing returnees’ profiles and needs can inform the design of appropriate assistance and reintegration assistance. These assessments can be undertaken in several ways, including:

  • Registration systems at borders and points of arrival;
  • Creation of dedicated national, local, or municipal structures;
  • Analysis of citizens’ key socio-economic characteristics, skills, and qualifications;
  • National registration and profiling procedures;
  • Skills registration databases for returning workers.

Reintegration support

The disruption created by conflicts or natural disasters can severely and negatively affect the socio-economic wellbeing of returned citizens and their families. Upon their return to States of origin, citizens and their families may need diverse and multiple forms of support and assistance to accommodate their immediate and medium-term needs. Reintegration support services for returned citizens (some of which are described below) could include:

  • Cash assistance;
  • Medical and psychosocial services;
  • Counseling;
  • Family tracing services;
  • Temporary and long-term housing;
  • Referrals for specific services;
  • Social benefits, including unemployment, disability, and low-income benefits;
  • Access to education for children and youth;
  • Assistance to reacquire employment and generate income in the State of origin;
  • Assistance to remigrate including information dissemination on legal migration opportunities;
  • Assistance to obtain identity documents and citizenship (e.g., for children born abroad);
  • Targeted services for particularly vulnerable groups, such as women, children, victims of trafficking, and other persons experiencing trauma;
  • Assistance to access local services.

Factors that stakeholders may consider in implementing reintegration programs include:

  • Mandating a dedicated agency to support return and reintegration efforts;
  • Combining several services in comprehensive return and reintegration packages;
  • Creating national and local reintegration centers to assist citizens reintegrate.

Access to social services and other return assistance

Citizens may have resided abroad for lengthy periods and not be eligible for or unable to access social services. Some returned citizens may require specialized assistance, in particular children, victims of trafficking, persons who experienced trauma, and those that had been in an irregular immigration status in the host State. Services could include:

  • Family tracing services;
  • Temporary housing and access to health care and education;
  • Referrals for specific services (e.g., medical, psychosocial, and services for unaccompanied or separated children, disabled persons, or victims of trafficking);
  • Waivers on residency requirements for certain social benefits, including unemployment, disability, and low-income benefits;
  • Assistance to obtain identity documents and proof of citizenship, including for children born abroad.

Psychosocial counseling

Health and psychosocial counseling can be a crucial service for returned citizens, particularly those who faced trauma during their migratory journey. Citizens and their families who return to States of origin after prolonged stays in a host State can experience difficulty reintegrating into the culture, traditions, and gender roles of host communities. This may be especially difficult for children born abroad. Support programs could include trauma counseling, social counseling, family counseling, and individual counseling. Such counseling can be aimed at helping the returned citizen to adapt to their new reality, defining their role in the community, or ensuring psychosocial stability.

De-stigmatization of returnees

In some situations, such as when a returned citizen may have been a victim of trafficking or other forms of exploitation, forcibly recruited into extremist or combatant groups, or been victims of sexual abuse, they may experience stigmatization in the community to which they return. Destigmatization and community reconciliation programs to facilitate successful reintegration could include identifying pressures on returnees, mitigation of family conflicts, or information campaigns in communities to raise awareness of difficulties returned citizens faced.

Certification mechanisms for skills, education, and training acquired abroad

Returnees who have acquired skills abroad might have lost relevant documentation as a result of the crisis, or their State of origin might not recognize qualifications or certificates acquired abroad. Certification mechanisms for skills, education, and training acquired abroad could include:

  • Providing returnees with information about how to register and get their skills recognized;
  • Establishing skill certification services through a government agency or setting standards and accrediting private service providers to provide returnees with affordable assessment services;
  • Establishing a cooperative process to include employers or workers associations, private employment services, education and training institutions, professional and regulatory bodies, national skills or qualifications certificating agencies, and relevant civil society;
  • Assisting returning workers if overseas employers do not provide evidence of skill cquisition;
  • Developing skill assessment procedures to recognize and certify non-certificated learning (e.g., in assessment centers through certified assessors);
  • Providing gap-filling training leading to full occupational certification;
  • Mutually recognizing vocational qualifications between States of origin and host States.

Income and employment regeneration

Citizens who return will have lost their jobs and potentially their savings and may not be able to support themselves or their families. Finding new sources of income for high and lesserskilled workers is necessarily a key component of return assistance. Those new sources of income could come from employment locally, new business development, or remigration opportunities. Services to support these ends include:

  • Training to develop and upgrade skills, including financial literacy and business management;
  • Micro-credit, loans, and grants, business starter kits, and entrepreneurship programs, including tax incentives;
  • Incentives for private sector actors to employ returned citizens;
  • Coordinating with recruitment agencies to match skills with opportunities abroad;
  • Counseling and advice on employment, whether in the State of origin, or through remigration;
  • Work fairs, events, and orientation programs to provide information;
  • Placement services;
  • Establishment of employment centers in regions experiencing high-levels of return to meet multiple needs, including those highlighted above.