Annual Monitoring Report Assisted Voluntary Return Programs

Original Language
English
ISBN (PDF)
978-92-9268-087-9
Number of Pages
40
Reference Number
PUB2021/096/EL
Date of upload

29 Sep 2021

Annual Monitoring Report Assisted Voluntary Return Programs

This first annual monitoring report of the IOM Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) program in Mexico and North of Central America countries, informed by five earlier summary reports, has two primary objectives. The first goal is to present mobility flow trends of AVR program beneficiaries to and from El Salvador, Guatemala–Belize,  Honduras and Mexico since March 2020, which allows for direct linkage to the COVID-19 pandemic. The second objective is to present the findings of monitoring surveys of AVR beneficiaries from March 2020 to April 2021.

  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
  • LIST OF FIGURES 
  • HIGHLIGHTS 
  • 1. INTRODUCTION 
  • 2. MOBILITY TRENDS 
    • 2.1. Drivers of migration 
    • 2.2. Returns increasing after a sharp drop due to the pandemic 
    • 2.3. Operations during the pandemic 
    • 2.4. Assisted voluntary returnees as part of migrant caravans 
  • 3. MONITORING OF BENEFICIARIES AFTER RETURN 
    • 3.1. Purpose of monitoring exercise 
    • 3.2. Methodology 
  • 4. SURVEY RESULTS 
    • 4.1. Profile of respondents 
    • 4.2. Migration type of respondents
    • 4.3. Returning alone or with family 
    • 4.4. What respondents did in destination countries
  • 5. POST-RETURN: SURVEY RESULTS 
    • 5.1. Respondents’ intention to remigrate
    • 5.2. Returnees struggle to gain employment after return 
    • 5.3. Financial concerns of respondents 
    • 5.4. Respondents’ positive reception from host communities
    • 5.5. Most beneficiaries felt safe upon return 
    • 5.6. Stress-induced physiological issues emerged upon return  
    • 5.7. Negligible long-term reintegration support, an opportunity for action
  • 6. CONCLUSION 
    • 6.1. Robust referral mechanisms and extended post-arrival assistance 
    • 6.2. Repeated monitoring surveys of individual beneficiaries 
    • 6.3. Need for further research