{"id":168354,"date":"2020-10-10T20:39:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-10T18:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/press\/coronavirus-international-organization-for-migration-iom-government-of-ethiopia-provide-cash-grants-to-thousands-of-migrants-returning-due-to-covid19?lang=en"},"modified":"2020-10-10T20:39:25","modified_gmt":"2020-10-10T18:39:25","slug":"coronavirus-international-organization-for-migration-iom-government-of-ethiopia-provide-cash-grants-to-thousands-of-migrants-returning-due-to-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/coronavirus-international-organization-for-migration-iom-government-of-ethiopia-provide-cash-grants-to-thousands-of-migrants-returning-due-to-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus: International Organization for Migration (IOM), Government of Ethiopia provide Cash Grants to thousands of migrants returning due to COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/7eeb40756ae2dae\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/7eeb40756ae2dae\" alt=\"International Organization for Migration (IOM)\" style=\"max-width:500px\" \/><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/download\/7eeb40756ae2dae\">Download logo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The International Organization for Migration (IOM), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Ethiopia to strengthen return and reintegration assistance to thousands of Ethiopian migrants returning home due to COVID-19. This is particularly crucial as the pandemic continues to deepen the already challenging economic and social situation faced by returnees.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The&nbsp;USD&nbsp;1&nbsp;Million&nbsp;Dollar&nbsp;project will provide cash grants and other forms of support to over 8,000 returning migrants. The grants will enable returnees to provide food, clothing and other essential items for themselves.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 34,000 migrants have returned to Ethiopia since the outbreak of COVID-19. Many have arrived with nothing other than the clothes on their backs, and&nbsp;were in need of&nbsp;medical attention, and basic humanitarian items. Some were also in need of psychosocial support after having gone through traumatic experiences during their journeys.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Priority will be given to vulnerable migrants including victims of trafficking, those disabled, people with medical conditions, and single-headed households.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The agreement was signed by Maureen Achieng, Chief of Mission, IOM Ethiopia and Representative to the African Union and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and Her Excellency, Dr.&nbsp;Ergogie&nbsp;Tesfaye, the country&rsquo;s Minister of the&nbsp;Labour&nbsp;and Social Affairs.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>More than 550,000 Ethiopian migrants are expected to return from Gulf countries, due to COVID-19, according to the Government, posing an enormous challenge for Ethiopia.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Addressing their needs requires a multisectoral approach, well-designed policies, and better resource mobilization,&rdquo; said Minister Tesfaye.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The new funds from the agreement will also improve &lsquo;referral mechanisms&rsquo; that link returnees with available government assistance&nbsp;programmes, resources, and service providers more effectively.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The advent of COVID-19 has resulted in additional challenges for migrants, many of whom have lost their jobs and ability to support their families through remittances,&rdquo; said Maureen Achieng, Chief of Mission, IOM Ethiopia.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;To successfully support the return process, it is critical that migrants returning home have access to assistance that helps them reach a level of economic self-sufficiency, social stability, and psychosocial well-being that makes potential future migration decisions a matter of choice rather than a desperate necessity,&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The agreement is aligned with IOM&rsquo;s Regional Migrant Response Plan (2018-2020), an&nbsp;USD 84 million&nbsp;appeal launched in August to&nbsp;provide life-saving assistance to&nbsp;an estimated 235,000 vulnerable migrants in the Horn of Africa and Yemen. Under the plan, IOM and other partners have adapted alternative methods for reintegrating returnees, given the COVID-19 context.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This assistance has been made possible through the generous contribution of the US State Department&rsquo;s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), and the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i>Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Organization for Migration (IOM).<\/i><\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/\">Source: Africa Newsroom &#8211; APO<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Download logo The International Organization for Migration (IOM), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Ethiopia to strengthen return and reintegration assistance to thousands of Ethiopian migrants returning home due to COVID-19. This is particularly crucial as the pandemic continues to deepen the already challenging economic and social situation faced by returnees. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[4585],"class_list":{"0":"post-168354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa-news-2","8":"tag-apo","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/coronavirus-international-organization-for-migration-iom-government-of-ethiopia-provide-cash-grants-to-thousands-of-migrants-returning-due-to-covid-19.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}