West and Central Africa is characterized by dynamic migratory patterns, it provides the strongest example of intraregional migration flows in sub-Saharan Africa, with 70 percent of migratory movements mainly linked to employment taking place within the sub-region making this a land of opportunities for migrants. However, in recent years, irregular migration and insecurities have increased in the region posing additional challenges to safe and regular migration.

In line with the regional strategy (2020-2024), which is aligned with the national priorities of Member States across the region, IOM WCA has been working with governments and other stakeholders in the West and Central Africa region in the field of migration to address the challenges and opportunities that migration poses. The continental strategy responds to current and emerging challenges, positioning the Organization to better serve the Member States and migrant populations throughout all stages of their journey across the West and Central Africa region and beyond. It helps to achieve the objectives and standards outlined in the Global Compact Compact for Migration, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. IOM WCA will follow the objectives under the pillars of resilience, mobility and governance. 

In this context, IOM WCA has organized with ACBC/EMM2.0 two sessions of Training-of-trainers (ToT) on 17-20 May in Dakar for IOM’s Essentials of Migration Management (EMM2.0) programme. EMM2.0 is IOM’s flagship programme on migration management, it offers online resources and foundational training on key aspects of migration governance and management for government officials, as such it is an effective tool to add to the region’s assistance portfolio on governance. 

o   Session 1: 17 and 18 May, was attended by IOM RO Dakar senior staff including Regional Thematic Specialists, RLPO, head of Media, awareness, and communication and other managers.

o   Session 2: 19 and 20 May, was organized by IBM RTS to capacitate 12 IBM project managers in WCA.  

The WCA ToT aimed at building a pool of competent EMM 2.0 IOM trainers who will be able to effectively adapt materials and curriculum to the national/regional contexts and deliver the training to Government officials. Participants were trained on facilitation skills and practiced the EMM2.0 training modules while benefiting from the peer-to-peer feedback.

In their training evaluation all participants “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that the ToT will help improve their present work performance, they praised the training methodology as well as the quality of the content. One senior participant has even declared “This is the best training I’ve had at IOM!”.

If you are interested in organizing an EMM2.0 Training session for government officials and/or EMM2.0 Training of trainers (ToT) sessions, you can reach out to the EMM Team (EMMinfo@iom.int).