Over 2000 former refugees currently living in the Southern and Western Provinces will benefit from a project initiated by the International Office of Migration (IOM), in conjunction with the government.

The international migration organization and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs are partners in the project referred to as: "Enhancement of socioeconomic reintegration opportunities for Rwandan returned refugees and other vulnerable groups.”

Jean Damascene Kayitana, an official in the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (MIDIMAR) confirmed that the project supports vulnerable groups in the two Provinces, and that the IOM acquired support funds $2m, from the government of Japan.

"This is a one-year project that actually started, this year, in February. This is really a very significant project because it aims to help about 2,000 people and this is big support to us as the line ministry in charge of refugee affairs,” Kayitana said.

According to the IOM, the project will provide support by sharing key findings from a rapid needs and capacity assessment, carried out by IOM, on reintegration opportunities for returning refugees.

This includes a profiling exercise that involves identification of human resources, skills training needs and assessment of existing capacity and development of an implementation strategy in line with government priorities.

The project seeks to strengthen Government capacity in managing returnee data collection and analysis as well as the capacity of local training institutions to provide marketable skills training to returnees.

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