8 countries outlined a new period of cooperation on Migration with the Mesoamerica Program

IOM, the UN Migration Agency, developed a needs-assessments study in each of the eight countries of the Mesoamerica region to establish with state institutions and civil society organizations the annual cooperation priorities of the Mesoamerica Program, oriented towards capacity-building of institutions for orderly, safe and regular migration.

This period of consultation and exchanges between IOM and its stakeholders had as a result the targeting of activities and support actions of the Organization, responding in a more accurate way to the needs of its partners, such as institutions and civil society organizations, as well as indirect beneficiaries, such as migrants to which these partners offer services.

Through online surveys, an analysis of its monitoring tools, interviews with key personnel and focus groups, IOM reached more than 95 key entities related to migration management in the region; mainly migration directorates, national and border police, children and women institutes, general attorneys, ombudsmen, as well as civil society organizations that work with victims of Trafficking in Persons, LGBTI migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, among others.

Migration authorities identified the need to consolidate some of the accomplishments reached in previous phases of the Program, which is entering its eight year of implementation. Likewise, institutions showed interest on replicating good practices; for example, the establishment of a referral mechanism for the health-care of migrants established in the southern border of Mexico. Various institutions also showed their interest to include Program materials within their training curricula, while others require IOM technical assistance for the development of tools such as action plans, protocols, policies, among others.

IOM also fostered collaboration with the tourism and labor sectors, who showed interest in various parts of the Program. For example, the Ministries of Labor highlighted the issue of Trafficking in Persons for labor exploitation, as well as the discussion of labor migration policies and best practices, an area of work in development by the Program under the framework of the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM).

The meetings with institutions were also used to present MigrantApp, IOM´s regional application to provide accurate and free information to migrants. They committed to support its dissemination and IOM information gathering efforts for this tool.

IOM will implement the actions that were decided in each of the countries in the framework of the Mesoamerica Program from January 2018 to September 2018 thanks to the financial support of the Department of State of the United States.