From 27-30 April 2025, ICMPD conducted a Training for Practitioners on Reintegration of Returning Migrants in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, attended by 20 mid-level officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), representing various departments and ministries. The training was conducted under the Danish-funded Capacity Partnerships and Access to Information for Sustainable Reintegration of Returnees in Iraq (CAIR-II) Project, which aims to respond to the capacity building and training needs of the Federal Government of Iraq and KRG through a holistic, needs-based, and systematic capacity building programme.
The training course covered 11 different lessons that have been developed to address various important aspects of reintegration relevant for practitioners in the context of Iraq, such as: how to use public private partnerships to boost and facilitate reintegration programmes and harnessing the potential of returnees for development of their home countries; Understanding best practices related to case management of returnees; How to support better reintegration at the community/local level through improved community participation and engagement; Building effective coordination and referral mechanisms; Implementing sustainable reintegration programmes through proper planning and ways to conduct monitoring, evaluation and learning of reintegration programmes.
Through the use of an extensive Participant Workbook, the training also involved several group and other interactive exercises designed to help the participants apply the content to simulated situations that resemble their daily work.
Having actively engaged in Iraq since 2010 with various governmental and non-governmental partners on a range of issues in Iraq, ICMPD’s approach to reintegration capacity-building focusses on national capacities beyond the traditional approaches. In establishing sustainable national systems for training that are integrated into ministerial structures, ICMPD follows a three-pronged approach:
- Developing high-quality, context-specific training courses: including two courses on reintegration, one for migration policy programme managers, and one for practitioners;
- Engaging a wide-spectrum of governmental stakeholders to ensure a whole-of-government approach;
- Conducting a Training of Trainers (ToT) programme for the government stakeholders, so they can serve as an internal pool of trainers on reintegration in the near future.
The approach is further strengthened with ICMPD’s Migration Capacity Partnerships Training Institute for the Mediterranean (MCP-Med-TI), officially licenced by the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority as a Further Education Institute. The MCP-Med-TI adds value to ICMPD’s work in Iraq by ensuring the training facilities, courses, and trainers are certified under the Maltese Qualifications Framework (which is aligned with the European Qualifications Framework).
Project CAIR-II is implemented under the wider Nordic Cooperation on Return and Reintegration in Iraq (NORAQ), under which projects aim to ensure complementarity and sustainability in their support government and NGO partners in enhancing their migration governance; in particular, improving reintegration support to returnees.
