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Tool 6: Overcoming Obstacles

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Tools for Formulating (Re)integration Policies
Tool 1: Situation Analysis
Tool 2: Data and Indicators
Tool 3: (Re) integration Frameworks
Tool 4: Stakeholder analysis
Tool 5: Consistency and Coordination
Tool 6: Overcoming Obstacles
Tool 7: Theory of Change
Tool 8: Policy Monitoring
Tool 9: Policy Evaluation
Tools: Download
Tool 6: Overcoming Obstacles

The analysis of the obstacles faced by migrants and returning migrants in their (re)integration processes identified during the diagnosis phase allows potential mitigation interventions to be formulated during a design phase. This tool compiles examples of issues that migrants and returning migrants often face and offers potential mitigation measures. 

When should this tool be used?

This tool must be used during the diagnosis and design phases.

How should this tool be used?

Users can review the examples of potential (re)integration issues in their different dimensions. Depending on the most relevant problems for a given context, a list of potential interventions is provided. When carrying out this analysis, it is important to consider variables related to gender, nationality, ethnicity, racial origin, educational level, age, among others.


Dimensions

Examples of identified obstacles
  • Labour rights constraints
  • Regulatory obstacles to starting up a business
Potential interventions
Reforms to labour constraints for migrants: It is important to review regulatory frameworks that may limit migrants’ access to employment and verify their consistency with international labour law.
See:

 

Inclusion of migrants in policies to promote innovation and entrepreneurship: this entails considering the inclusion of migrants in the countries’ entrepreneurship and innovation policies or programmes, ensuring consistency between these strategies and those implemented with migrants. See:

  • Informal labour marketss
  • Low capacity of host communities to offer job opportunities
  • Low incomes
  • Lack of training programmes in line with migrants’ educational level
  • Limited access to financing and banking services
  • Lack of access to skilled jobs
Promote sustainable livelihood strategies: based on identifying and understanding migrants’ profiles and capacities to propose initiatives to enhance their livelihoods. See United Nations, IOM and UNCTAD (2018),  Policy guide on entrepreneurship for migrants and refugees, Sections:
  • Policy Area 3: Enhancing entrepreneurial education and skill development.
  • Policy Area 4: Facilitating technology exchange and innovative start-ups.
  • Policy Area 5: Improving access to finance.
  • Risks of labour exploitation
  • Forced labour
  • Trafficking in persons
Structural level programming: this can include improvements to national laws and policies to guarantee the rights of migrants. See:

Plans for protecting migrants in vulnerable situations:  his entails developing strategies and action plans to provide protection and assistance to migrants vulnerable to violence, exploitation, and abuse. See:

National referral mechanisms: promote multi-stakeholder cooperation to provide protection and assistance services to migrants in vulnerable situations. See:

Examples of identified obstacles
  • High levels of xenophobia, racism and discrimination
  • Social exclusion
  • Assimilation models
  • Lack of feeling of belonging to society
  • Lack of support networks
  • Cultural barriers
Potential interventions
Adoption and implementation of legal and policy frameworks to prevent xenophobia and hate crimes against migrants:ithis entails the criminalization of acts of racial discrimination or hate crimes against migrants, including hate speech. See:

Assistance and programming at the community level: it is important to consider the capacities and needs of the host communities to avoid any potential tensions. See:

Social mixing strategies: they help to develop positive social connections, support networks, eradicate prejudices against migrants, and promote the rejection of xenophobic attitudes. See:

Examples of identified obstacles
  • Language barrier.
  • Lack of accessibility to language learning services.
Potential interventions
Linguistic and inter-cultural training offer:to acquire knowledge not only on the language but also on the rights, host society aspects and the promotion of inter-cultural communication. See:
Examples of identified obstacles
  • Lack of an institutional structure for the participation of migrants.
  • Decision-making without considering the opinions and experience of migrants.
  • Political persecution.
  • Lack of knowledge of the political landscape in the host country.
  • Political personalities with xenophobic speeches.
Potential interventions
Engagement spaces:Offer participation spaces for migrants, in which they can organize themselves into social, civic and cultural groups according to their needs and interests. See:

Debunking xenophobic political rhetoric: offer tools that help debunk the negative rhetoric on migration and migrants by political or government personalities. See IOM (2021), World Migration Fact-Checkers’ Toolkit.

DIMENSIONS

Examples of identified obstacles
  • Informal labour markets.
  • Low capacity of communities of origin to offer job opportunities.
  • Risks of labour exploitation.
  • Low salaries.
  • Lack of training programmes in line with migrants’ educational level.
  • Constraints for creating businesses.
  • Limited access to financing.
  • Lack of access to skilled jobs.
  • Debt.
  • Forced labour.
Potential interventions
Community projects. In addition to allowing returning migrants to reconnect with their communities of origin, they can be an opportunity for socio-economic reintegration. See IOM (2020), Reintegration assistance. Practice #11 Creating livelihoods through environmental rehabilitation in Ethiopia and IOM (2020), Reintegration good practices #8 – Revitalizing Economy and Enhancing Social Cohesion through Community-Based Planning and Community-Prioritized Infrastructure Works: the Construction of a Bridge in Somalia.

Integrating debt management in interventions: training and advice on debt management is suggested, beyond financial education and, also, having resources that allow financial skills and knowledge to be put into practice. See “Programming to integrate debt”, IOM (2022), Returning to Debt Examining the effects of Indebtedness on Reintegration Outcomes.

Structural measures to alleviate migration costs: these are initiatives such as guest workers programmes and the implementation of bilateral labour agreements. See “Structural changes to ease the burden of debt on migrants, returnees, and their reintegration”, IOM (2022), Returning to Debt Examining the effects of Indebtedness on Reintegration Outcomes.

Creation of single windows or resource centers: provide returning migrants with services related to their migration experience, including employment and training opportunities. See Section 2. Facilitating employment, IOM (2022), Knowledge Paper #3 – Fostering Returnees’ Employment.

Micro-credit plan: allows returning migrants to access cash in circumstances in which they face difficulties opening a bank account or accessing capital. See Section 2.2. Using microcredit in the context of migrant reintegration, IOM (2021), The use of Micro-credit schemes in migrant reintegration context.

Entrepreneurship: facilitates access to existing resources and tools so that returning migrants can create new opportunities in the labour market. See IOM (2020), Reintegration good practices #3 – Support for Entrepreneurship in Burkina Faso.

Training services to improve skills and employability: the skills and capacities of returning migrants could be strengthened to facilitate their insertion in the labour market. See Section 1. Improving employability, IOM (2022), Knowledge Paper #3 – Fostering Returnees’ Employment; IOM (2020), Reintegration good practices #2 – Skills and employability enhancement in Burkina Faso; IOM (2020), Reintegration good practices #4 – Support for Returnee Employability and Empowerment Through Vocational Training and Job Search in Mali and IOM (2020), Boosting returnees’ employment through support to SMEs in Iraq.

Collaboration with the public and private sectors: this could facilitate access of returning migrants to the formal labour market through job creation with the aid of the public and private sectors. See Section 3. Creating jobs, IOM (2022), Knowledge Paper #3 – Fostering Returnees’ Employment.
Examples of identified obstacles
  • Barriers to accessing health services, housing, justice and social protection programmes.
Potential interventions
Social assistance for reintegration: It is about facilitating and improving access to services and making the necessary referrals of returning migrants, particularly to housing, education, legal assistance, health care, food and water services and other public infrastructure in the community. See Section 2.5 Social reintegration assistance, and Section 3.4 Social reintegration assistance at the community level, in the IOM 2020 Reintegration Handbook.

Access to health services: build a continuous care programme that is operational throughout the different stages of the migration cycle. See IOM (2022), Research Study #3 – Health and Reintegration. Returning to Space but not to Time: A Life Course Approach to Migrants’ Health, Continuity of Care and Impact on Reintegration Outcomes.

Services for girls and boys from returning migrant families: provide integration services encompassing the education, language, and socio-economic development of returning migrant children. See IOM (2021), Research Study #1 – Development of a Monitoring Toolkit and Review of Good Practices for the Sustainable Reintegration of Child Returnees.
Tool 5: Consistency and Coordination
Tool 7: Theory of Change