EU Grants €1M To IOM For Community-Based Surveillance In Zimbabwe

The European Union (EU) has granted €1 million to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Zimbabwe to improve community-based surveillance at some of Zimbabwe’s busy borders and along the migration routes.

The project will take two years to complete, and it aims to improve the management of migrants and preparedness plans in urban areas. The project will strengthen IOM’s flow monitoring activities at borders, in border communities, and areas where migrants congregate at different stages of their migration journeys. In a joint Press statement issued yesterday, the EU and IOM Zimbabwe said:

IOM has, over the last two years, been working to strengthen capacities of frontline workers at four points of entry (PoEs) — Beitbridge, Plumtree, Chirundu and Forbes, to respond adequately to crises and attend to migrant needs, including post-arrival assistance, health, and protection assistance.

IOM will maintain protection assistance through counselling and referral services and will build on existing partnerships to provide government with the necessary technical assistance to craft contingency plans and standard operating procedures at PoEs and along the routes that migrants travel, to ensure a reinforced system of prevention, detection, and response to epidemics in Zimbabwe.

It will involve collecting and analysing migration data to provide a more comprehensive picture of the demographics, needs, and vulnerabilities of migrants. The data will inform government and development partners on the actions required to detect, prevent, and respond to public health threats that affect migrants in mainly urban areas and ensure that migrants have access to basic health services.

The project will reach over 15,000 migrant returnees and other mobile populations and will be implemented in Beitbridge, Masvingo, Bulawayo, Hurungwe, and Harare. The project will promote the health of urban citizens, migrants, and mobile populations through raising awareness of the migration dimension emergencies and strengthening the capacity of the government to respond rapidly to crises.

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