IOM Nicaragua, working with the Ministry of the Interior, this week
brought together entrepreneurs from the city of Chinandega,
officials of the Mayor's Office, the Chamber of Commerce and the
Nicaraguan Business Social Responsibility Union, to discuss ways to
ensure economic reintegration for victims of trafficking.

Many of Nicaragua's victims of trafficking come from the town of
Chinandega, the regional seat of the Department of Chinandega, a
poor agricultural area northwest of the capital, 72 kilometres from
the Honduran border, and a two-hour boat ride to the Salvadoran
border.

Although there is little information on the extent of human
trafficking in Nicaragua, trafficking is more prevalent in areas
close to international borders.  In the Department of
Chinandega, this is coupled with thriving commercial traffic,
social and family ties on both sides of the border, and extreme
poverty and lack of opportunities.

"For the participants to speak of human trafficking and the
private sector in the same sentence is a novel idea.  And so
the discussion focused on how the private sector can help these
women who hail from very poor families to overcome extreme poverty
and violence," explains Brenda De Trinidad, IOM Counter Trafficking
Project Manager.

The project is the only one in Central America focusing on the
reintegration of victims and works with local authorities and civil
society in Chinandega to strengthen the local support network so
that victims returning home can receive the medical and
psychosocial assistance needed, as well as vocational training to
get jobs and start new lives.  The project receives financial
support from the US Department of State Bureau for Population
Refugees and Migration (PRM).

Services to victims of trafficking assisted by IOM include job
placement assistance. Of ten women who recently completed a
six-month hairdresser and esthetician course, five have established
a home-based clientele that contributes to their monthly
earnings.

In August, two young women assisted by IOM will complete a
business and microenterprise development course, sponsored by the
Mayor's Office of Chinandega.  Upon successful completion,
they will receive a small loan to start their
microenterprises.  IOM provides financial and technical
support, as well as transportation and school supplies for the
participants.

In the coming months IOM Nicaragua plans to hold similar
workshops with the private sector in two other border areas (Ocotal
y Somoto), as well as regional gatherings in El Salvador y
Guatemala, as part of an agreement signed by the vice ministers of
Interior and Foreign Affairs at the XV Regional Conference on
Migration that took place in Tapachula, Mexico in May 2010.

For more information, please contact:

Brenda de Trinidad

IOM Nicaragua

Email: "mailto:eMAILbdetrinidad@iom.int">bdetrinidad@iom.int

Tel. +505 83882380

or

Daizen Oda

Email: "mailto:doda@iom.int">doda@iom.int

Tel. +505 83732507