Senegal - The United States, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and IOM last week launched a series of trainings on migration data collection, information management and displacement management in West and Central Africa.

The first training of the series was held in Sierra Leone and was attended by 15 members of the government, as well as participants from the Office of National Security, the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society, Save the Children, and the Sierra Leone Police. The remaining four trainings will take place over the coming weeks in Guinea-Bissau, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Cabo Verde – all of which play a crucial role as origin and/or transit countries.

In West Africa, migration is a key driver of economic and social development. However, it can be the consequence of poverty, extreme violence, conflict and natural disasters. Reinforcing states’ capacities to prepare for emergencies and to manage and recover from forced displacement is extremely important. The training series aims to build the national capacity of governments to address emergency preparedness and response, including forced displacement, through information and displacement management.

The trainings are being carried out by ECOWAS and IOM, in close collaboration with the authorities of the participating countries. They include workshops on data collection methodologies and tools, capacity building in data analysis, reporting and protection mainstreaming in line with international standards.

“Throughout the week, participants have strengthened their knowledge in displacement and information management. I believe that they are now in a stronger position to anticipate and respond to emergency situations involving population displacement,” said Juliette Hallaire, an IOM information management expert based in Dakar.

This project follows a similar initiative organized by the International Development Fund (IDF), which focused on displacement management training for national authorities in West Africa in 2015-16.

This project is funded by the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) for a total of USD 700,000 over a period of 12 months, ending in July 2017.

For further information, please contact Giovanni Cassani at the IOM Regional Office Senegal in Dakar, Senegal. Email: gcassani@iom.int, Tel: +221 33 869 62 00.