Statistics have shown that a huge number of youth from Sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana have been embarking on irregular migration through the Northern States of Africa and have been perishing on the Mediteranian Sea and Desert in their quest to seek greener pastures in Europe.
Between January to March 2018, thirteen thousand and forty-three (13,043) arrivals were recorded to Europe with four-hundred and ninety-nine (499) deaths as reported by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in 2019.
This was disclosed by DCI Dr. Prosper Price Delali Asima, Western Regional Commander at a two-day training program on the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration for some selected Officers of the Western Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
He observed that technology was now central to our daily lives which makes it near impossible for Officers to perform their tasks without any knowledge of ICT and said that IT capacity building has been added to the two-day training, to enable them use the tools to undertake and manage information campaigns.
He therefore urged the participants to participate fully in the orientation for a successful execution of their core mandate and expressed the hope that they will be equipped with Communication for Development (C4D) tools for awareness raising activities and facilitate behaviour change among potential and actual migrants in Ghana.
Madam Pooja Bhalla, EUTF Project Manager stated that effective collaboration with the GIS was essential for the common goal of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migration Protection and Reintegration which would ensure that migration was safer, more informed and better governed for both migrants and their communities.
She said, the dissemination of information on safe and legal migration was critical in that IT has a major impact on how information is put out there, as well as helps to monitor how effective the tools deployed were performing.
She pointed out that the program was designed to be practical with exercises to provide skills, encourage participation and exchange ideas and therefore urged participants to take keen interest in the discussions.
Madam Bhalla thanked the IOM and the EU for their continuous support of reintegration of migrants at both the individual and community levels and hoped that the discussions in the orientation as well as the ideas shared can be applied effectively in their management of migrants.
The training was to equip participants with the relevant skills and expertise in awareness raising activities which is intended to enable them undertake and manage information and campaigns effectively and efficiently.
The Initiative, funded by European Union Trust Fund (EUTF) also seeks to upgrade the skills and methodologies of participants for their daily sensitization and outreach programs and activities.
Participants of the training which was held by the European Union (EU) in collaboration with the IOM were expected to learn best practices to promote safe, orderly and regular migration from the Western Region.
Story: Seth Ameyaw Danquah
