Somalia - IOM this week met with officials of the Federal Government of Somalia, Puntland State and Norway to discuss advances in a 3-year Norwegian-funded IOM project designed to build migration management capacity in the Horn of Africa.

IOM support for immigration and border management infrastructure in the region already includes installation of the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS), which registers travelers’ passport details and biometric data, at eleven key Somali ports of entry. The system screens travelers to improve security and generates statistics needed for policy formulation. 

But MIDAS and other migration management infrastructure requires institutional support in the form of finance and administration. The IOM project will include a needs assessment in these areas. It will also partner with IOM’s Migration in Development for Africa (MIDA) programme to enable a Somali diaspora expert return home to share his or her migration management expertise with national officials.

“The Federal Government is keen on encouraging collaboration and partnership with regional administrations in immigration and border management in Somalia,” said Abdi Rashid Hussein, Director General for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, representing the Ministry of Security. “We also urge our partners to support and pay more attention in mainstreaming gender in migration management,” he noted. 

Abdullahi Gaffaw and Abdi Rashid Ali Ahmed, Directors of Immigration from the Federal Government and Puntland State, both affirmed their commitment to the development of institutional capacity and collaboration between their respective administrations.

IOM Somalia’s Capacity Building for Migration Management (CBMM) projects are funded by the governments of Norway and Japan.

For more information, please contact

Hiroko Nishino

IOM Somalia

Tel +254 733 440 780

Email: hnishino@iom.int