European Reintegration Networking

Returnees as a potential within development cooperation

Project period: 01-12-2003 to 30-11-2004

Target group: Refugees, who voluntary go back to their home country.

Introduction

Most of the migrants sending countries are developing countries on the African and Asian continent. Political conflicts and poverty produce a vast flow of refugees looking for a safer and better existence. It has long been assumed that development and democratisation lead to a decline in out-migration. But over the last decade, a consensus has arisen that rather than diminishing migration pressure, development and democratisation can stimulate migration in the short term by raising people’s expectations and by enhancing the resources that are needed to move. The Danish researcher Nicholas van Hear concludes in his research (1) into the relationship between migration and development: that there is a migration hump that has to be overcome before people are encouraged to stay in their homelands.The cross-border migration, combined with the “brain drain” from developing to industrial countries effects to a large extent the social, political and economic development of the African and Asian migrant sending countries. The migrants sending countries benefit from the remittance flow, providing an important positive contribution to the balance of payments and which is a major source of foreign exchange. The remittance flow currently outnumbers the total flow of Official Development Assistance. Last year migrant workers transferred a record sum of 74 billion Euro to their home countries(2).

On the other hand international migration tends to strip developing countries from its most entrepreneurial and intellectually able human resources. In post war countries, like Afghanistan, Somalia and Angola, the brain drain phenomenon has direct negative repercussions on the reconstruction process. To turn “brain drain” into “brain gain”, voluntary return, both temporary and permanent, of migrants is crucial. Remigration of migrants can bring back accumulated amounts of financial, social and human capital into the developing countries.

However with exception of a few entrepreneurial and other small-scale return projects, the experience of the migrant gained in the European host country usually is not taken into account. This may refer to work experience, professional qualification or experience with democracy and a constitutional state in the host countries, which might be useful for the development of their home country.

Yet recent studies reveal that, in particular skilled refugees are very concerned about the development of their country of origin. Organized in small associations, they dedicate themselves to the design and elaboration of development projects and the financial support.(3)

In general the quality of the projects does not meet the professional standards of the official development cooperation programmes performed by the European governments and development NGO’s. Nevertheless it exposes the concern of the refugees about the reconstruction or development of their country or region of origin. This commitment and full potential of skills, in terms of language, culture and skills is however hardly utilized by professional development organisations working in the migrants sending regions.

Only recently the question of the contribution of returnees to the socio-economic development and the reduction of conflict potentials in their home country is put on the agenda of development organizations. A few new alliances emerge between return organisations and development agencies(4) and migrants are occasionally invited to give advice about development projects in their home country.

During the second Caritas Europe Migration Forum in Prague, November 2001 a discussion on “Migration and Development” was set off within the Caritas network. The most important conclusions of this forum were: the importance of getting migrants into development work, facilitating the exchange of information, mutual information and advise on development/migration issues and discussion on –respective impacts during the implementations on projects.

This issue corresponds to the debate held by the EU and the Euro-Mediterrian partners of the Barcelona process, which took place in Valencia, Spain, on 22-23 April 2002. They agreed on the idea of holding a Ministerial Conference on Migration, Social Integration of Emigrants, to be held on the second half of 2003, which should include aspects such as co-operation with the countries of origin and management of migratory flows. They adopted a framework Document which mentions inter alia, co-operation in the treatment of issues relating to the social integration of migrants, migration and movement of people. In the perspective of the promotion of the status of migrants in the host countries and of their relationship with their countries of origin the Framework Document promotes the partnerships between countries of origin and host countries in order to make the most of migrant’s contribution to the regional or local development of their country of origin.

Recently the Commission of the European Communities advocates in a document, entitled: “Development and Migration”(5), a return policy for refugees and legal migrants who wish to return to their country of origin, with a view of serving both the immediate and longer interests of developing countries and those of the migrants concerned.

May 2003 the Swedish government published a proposition to merge aspects of migration and development. It specially mentions efforts to counteract the   “brain drain” through supporting educated people to return, to strengthen migrants efforts to support their countries of origin, among them to support the effect of remittances(6).

Aiming at win-win scenarios, where the sending and receiving country as well as the migrant him- or herself benefit from migration, present project proposal aspires to bridge the gap between repatriation and development. More specifically, the project aims to combine the potential of skilled refugees, their aspirations to contribute to the development of their home region withthe objectives of a sustainable return.

Development related return projects

Voluntary return programmes are focusing mainly on the individual opportunities. Returnees are offered personal compensation of costs to start their live or a business but the needs of the community or region are not taken into account. Only few return projects include development related criteria. In the Netherlands in 1996 a reintegration programme for rejected asylumseekers originating from Angola and Ethiopia (7) was implemented. This programme included community-oriented projects, with the aim to improve the situation of local people, especially the young and very poor. The initiatives depended on the local problems and needs, varying from vocational training centres, agriculture and rebuilding infrastructure.

In the Swedish aid programme there is a special programme for sending volunteers to work in development countries. This programme, originally aiming at students, has been used to some degree during the last years by former refugees who want to do service for one year in their country of origin. The programme is individually based and applications are evaluated on the base of the need in the developing country of origin. However it has proved that most of the participants have remained in the country of origin after the end of the programme. The programme, which has to be applied by an NGO, have been used for persons returning to Somalia/Somaliland, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The experience with development related return projects is particularly gained in the Balkan after the Dayton peace agreement. In Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo European NGO’s has executed many projects in the field of migration and development. The return of refugees and displaced persons to the Balkan has been linked to the reconstruction of the region. Various programmes and projects have successfully involved returnees in the development process. Supplementary to return programmes(8) focussing exclusively on reintegration, local development activities were implemented to create an economic and income oriented dimension of the reintegration. Also new models of development cooperation were introduced in which returnees were trained on the spot in order to play a substantial role in the execution and evaluation of projects. Since 1996 the integration of returning refugees into the local labour market in Bosnia and Herzegovina is implemented by AGEF, with the financial support from German funds for developmental cooperation.

The model of job placement for returnees into private small and medium-sized enterprises has been developed further, including various elements of support for employment. For the enterprises the projects open up a potential for development. Through the EU-wide model project in Kosovo, which was realized in 2000 with financial means from the ERF, more than 600 new jobs have been created and more than 100 start-ups were supported. In 2002 experts from Switzerland and Germany have evaluated the continuation of the model for Kosovo. The results indicate that breaking the barrier between refugee aid and development approach opens a dimension, which should gain entry into the discussion of the common refugee policy within the European Union. The focus of this project is on the revitalization of the economy in the mentioned countries by the means of the creation of new jobs and of employment possibilities. By these projects, chances of the returning refugees are increased for a long-term securing of their existence within the country of return.

The issue of return of migrants still enjoys high priority as the Kosovaran Government’s stated it during a meeting of donors, international organisations and a governmental delegation of Kosovo, held in Brussels November 2002. The meeting was dedicated to the assessment of three years of reconstruction after the war. A crosscutting theme was the investments that support the sustainable return of refugees and displaced Persons. 

Substantial part of the Bosnian and Kosovaran community living in Germany, Austria and Holland, returned to their home country and have taken part in the reconstruction process. The three organisations, forming the actual project management group, are experienced either in return programmes and/or development projects in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. The pace of return to Bosnia has accelerated. On 6 February 2003, the UNHCR office in Sarajevo announced that almost one million people have returned to their pre-war homes in Bosnia-Herzegovina since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995. According to Udo Janz of the UNHCR office in Sarajevo, the increased pace of returns is due especially to improved overall security, a better economic situation and new property legislation which enables the original owners to claim back their homes taken over during the war. By the end of last year, about 170.000 homes had been handed back to their former owners. Mr. Janz also pointed to the beneficial effects of international reconstruction efforts and various projects aimed at boosting economic activity(9).

Most of the development related return projects in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo have been evaluated separately, so the results can be investigated. Nevertheless there is no comparative study that highlights the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of the different models. 

Project management group

This project proposal is the result of a cooperation of organisations working in the field of return and development in The Netherlands, Austria, Germany and Sweden: The Dutch Migration Institute, Caritas Wien, AGEF in Germany and Gotenburg Initiativet in Sweden. The Dutch NMI is the leading organisation of this project. Representatives of these organisations will form the project management group (PMG).

Objectives

The main objective of this project is to strengthen the interaction between migration and development.

The specific goals are:

1. To gain an insight into the existing projects and analyse the best practices of voluntary return contributing to the development of countries of return
2. To develop guidelines for the implementation of voluntary-return projects that meet development co-operation criteria
3. To promote the interaction between voluntary return and development approaches
4. To mobilise the political decision makers in the areas of migration and development cooperation in the EU member states.

Elaboration of the objectives

1. To gain insight into the existing projects of voluntary return contributing to the development of countries of return. 
   An inventory and analysis will be made of reports of development related return projects executed by different European and multinational organizations and documents of national and international seminars and conferences focusing on migration and development.
   
   The NMI and OCIV made a survey of facilitated return projects in Europe10. Recently, AGEF puts together a review as part of the re-integration-project; ERF-community actions 2001-2003.  On the OCIV-Pseau conference (ERF-community actions 2000, Paris December 2001) several return organisations presented their experience in the field of reintegration. One of the workshops focused on remigration and development. As part of the AGEF project “reintegration approaches and policies”  a European meeting was held in Bonn, November 2002. Here European NGO’s presented projects and exchanged ideas about return migration, including voluntary return projects contributing to the development of the countries of origin. Together with report of the second Caritas Europe Migration Forum in Prague, the documents of these conferences, as well as other national conferences focusing on (re)migration and development, will be used for this inventory. 
   
   On the basis of the research criteria will be formulated with regard to development aspects in the design and implementation of voluntary return projects and best practices are selected and described briefly.
   
   A useful instrument to complete the inventory will be interactive homepages: www.reintegrationnet.net and reintegration.net (cooperation of Caritas Austria, Landeshauptstadt München, Tellus, and AGEF;ERF community actions 2000 and 2001). All partner organisations and other interested initiatives will be invited to present their activities on the websites and exchange ideas.
   
2. To develop guidelines for the implementation of voluntary-return projects that meet development co-operation criteria.
   To complete the data about the strength and weaknesses of development related return projects, experts will visit returnees and facilitated return projects in five different countries.
   
   These countries are selected on the basis of the following criteria:
   • -Refugees have definitely influenced the development issues. The sustainability of the reintegration approaches can be evaluated: Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo
   • In the Balkan region, where many projects in the field of migration and development have been executed, best practices will be studied thoroughly.
   • -A project journey is made to Afghanistan and Somalia/Somaliland, where the process of return recently started.
   • The different governments already agreed on measures to facilitate the return of Afghan asylum seekers and refugees to return. The German government organise the deployment of trained personnel within the refugees. Nevertheless the response of Afghan refugees is limited and few intend to return from the European Union to their home country on short term. New approaches merging voluntary return to the reconstruction of their home country could be an incentive for the repatriation to Afghanistan.
   • Somalia, especially in the region of Puntland and in Somaliland is particularly interesting to study. There is very few reports and studies available,  in spite of the fact that the development process is so active. International aid organisations have more or less only reached the capital of Somaliland Hergeisa, while all activities taking place in other areas are depending on returnees, skilled people from the diaspora. The system of sending remittances - where the Somalis all over the world are engaged, is now followed by a system of starting of small business run by relatives, or by returnees on temporary or permanent return. Also, in all official positions, from government down to local hospitals and schools, you find people who have spent time abroad. Special private schools for children from the returning families exist in at least Hergeisa, Bossaso and Galkayo - started because the ordinary school do not meet the quality standards the returnees have experienced during their time abroad.
   • - To asses the applicability of the models used in the other countries a mission is performed to Iraq, where the process of return and rebuilding has to be started. The numerous Iraqi refugees living in Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden are very interested to return to their home country and to contribute to the reconstruction of their country.

   The results of the project journeys, together with the SWOT analysis of development related return projects, form the elements for the guidelines for implementation of voluntary-return projects that meet development co-operation criteria.
   
   

3. and 4. To promote the interaction between voluntary return and development approaches and the mobilisation the political decision makers in the areas of migration and development cooperation in the EU member states.

A two-days European conference focussing on the conjunction of sustainable return and development cooperation will be held in Amsterdam. Political decision makers of different EU member states and representatives of institutes and organisations working in the field of development cooperation and repatriation meet during this forum. The conclusions of the best practices and project journeys are presented at fore hand to the participants and constitute an input for the discussions. Several models will be discussed in order to define clearly the possibilities of each model.

The guidelines for the implementation of return projects contributing to the development of the region, proposed by the project management group will be presented and discussed. The comments of the participant shall be used to complete and determine the guidelines. Another main issue is to explore the possibilities of European co-operation within voluntary return and development projects.  The “Return migration and Development” conference will be open to up to 100 participants of all ERF countries, as well as Denmark and interested third countries like Switzerland and Norway.

Dissemination of results

In addition an exchange of information related to the question of return and development via Internet will take place. On the current web-sites of the organisations of the management group (www.nmigratie.nl,  www.agef.de, www.initiativet.nu and www.caritas.at ) and in particular on the European site: www.reintegration.net, the results of the inventory and conference will be presented and accessible for all interested actors in the field. Moreover a press report will be formulated and articles will be published in the existing newsletters (NMI newsletter, Caritas Newsletter, AGEF-info and Nyhetsblad/Goteborgs-Initiativet).

Expected results of the operation

• To give an overall insight into the projects in the field of voluntary return and development.
• Extend the www.reintegrationnet.net and www.reintegration.net database to European projects in the field of return and  development which is permanently completed. In addition on the internet-forum an exchange takes place of ideas these subjects.
• Formulation of guidelines for projects in the field of voluntary return and development
• To establish a framework for relations of co-operation between development and return organisations

Follow-up measurements

The results will be at the disposal of all interested government authorities and NGO’s in the European Union for further discussion and for project development. As mentioned above, the websites will be at the disposal after the project is finished, as a platform of exchange even in the future. The organisations of the project management group will follow the further developments in the field of return and development and contribute to the design and implementation of projects and the debate in this field in each country. European conferences on migration will be benefited to continue the international discussion about advancements, good and bad practices, in the field of return and development.

1. The migration-development nexus: Evidence and policy options, Researching Development, Kopenhagen, 2002.
2. Global Development Finance Report, 2002, World Bank.
3. The Center for International Cooperation of the city of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, made an inventory of  oversees projects  and established a service desk in order to assists the migrants to elaborate these projects. 65 projects were presented per year. The majority of the projects were designed by skilled refugees and aimed at the development of their home region.
4. For example the agreement between Cordaid and IOM-Holland.
5. Communication form the commission to the council, the European parliament and the economic and social committee, “development and migration” Brussels, 2002.
6. Governmental proposition 2002/03:122 - Common responsibility: Swedish policy for global development
7. Gefaciliteerde terugkeer van Afgewezen Asielzoekers
8. Migrants originating from Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo could benefit from the following return programmes: Bosnians in the Netherlands: Dutch Repatriation Act, REAN and the Fund to Assist with the reinstallation of Returnees form the Netherlands to Bosnia and Herzegovina (FARRN) Bosnians in Germany:
9. Migration News Sheet/ March 2003
10. NMI,  Swamborn, Look and Compare,  an inventory of  facilitated return projects in Europe, Utrecht July 2001; OCIV, Pauwels, Terug of Terug, Brussels 2001