One year of the COMPASS initiative

Since launching in 2021, IOM's COMPASS initiative has taken a participatory and inclusive approach, contributing to restoring social bonds and the capacities of local leadership, including through community-based reintegration.

COMPASS is actively supporting relevant migration coordination mechanisms at the national level and the implementation of reintegration and awareness raising activities through community-based partnerships. The emphasis on coordination enhances local ownership and long-term sustainability. In the first year, over 780 stakeholders, including government officials and civil society organizations, received capacity building on migrant protection, human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants, sustainable reintegration, and migration management.

The establishment of a case management Community of Practice through COMPASS means that those working directly with vulnerable populations are trained and supported. Migrants from Afghanistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Mali, Morocco, and Niger reported an overall satisfaction rate of 82% with protection services provided under the COMPASS initiative.

COMPASS has also been gathering and producing an evidence base of population and mobility trends and challenges, as well as insights into knowledge, attitudes and behaviours, to inform legislative review, policy decisions and community-based interventions.

One year in, the COMPASS initiative is well on its way, guiding safe migration across 14 countries through participation, coordination, sharing and learning.

Here's what COMPASS has achieved in its first year: Watch video.

One year in numbers

29,117 migrants were provided with protection services, including humanitarian and direct assistance (25,363) and comprehensive assistance (3,754)

1,110 migrants received assistance for a safe and dignified return. 

165 returnees received reintegration assistance once back home. 

12,856 people were reached through the promotion of safe migration and local opportunities, as well as information about mental health and psychosocial support. 

28 data briefs were produced in Afghanistan (17), Iraq (6), and Mali (1), along with briefs on key human trafficking trends in Niger (3) and a population trends analysis in Ethiopia (1).  

202 reports and assessments were produced using data from IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM). 

Partnership & coordination in action

Together with local partners, COMPASS implements a participatory and inclusive approach that guarantees that all members of the community are equally included, whether individually or as groups, contributing to restoring social bonds and the capacities of local leadership, including through community-based reintegration.

Here are a few examples:

Algeria

• Multi-sectoral collaboration with Ministry of Health, Hospital Affairs Algeria, UNICEF, and the Algerian Association of Psychologists to improve protection services. 

Egypt

• Awareness raising campaign on safe migration with, the National Scouts Association.
• Partnership with social enterprise Threads of Hope to provide livelihood, nutrition and parenting skills to vulnerable women migrants.
• National counter-trafficking awareness raising campaign with the government. 

Ethiopia

• Partnership with a shelter NGO to provide accommodation, skills and vocational training, and educational support to unaccompanied migrant children from Tigray. ​
• Partnership with two universities to provide legal services to migrants, returnees and their communities. 

Iraq

• Inter-ministerial collaboration on IOM Return, Reintegration and Readmission Policy and legislative review and the expansion and rollout of National Referral Mechanisms. 

Morocco

• Bilateral Action plan signed between the Government of Morocco (MoI) and the Government of the Netherlands.