The Eastern Africa Migration Route Programme bringing together several organizations and countries is located at the IGAD secretariat. The programme aims at improving inter-state and inter-regional cooperation on migration management by addressing policy and operational challenges associated with movement of people in IGAD member states.
Besides IGAD, other partners are the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the African Union Commission with funding from the European Commission and the Governments of Italy, UK, Malta and the Netherlands. The countries to participate in the program include Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda and Yemen.
The programme will endeavour to build cooperation, share information and develop joint and practical initiatives among countries of origin, transit and destination. Specifically the programme will establish a migration resource centre and a forum for exchange of information and best practices on migration management through a regional consultative process.
Other activities will include enhancing the capacity of the target African countries, the IGAD secretariat and the European Union member states to collect and analyze intelligence relating to irregular migration; and organizing two technical workshops on key thematic migration issues. It will also address key gaps in the regions border and migration management structures.
The 15 month programme will also provide training to officials from East African countries on technical and policy migration management; inform potential irregular migrants through mass media campaigns of the dangers; and assess the feasibility of undertaking joint operations to disrupt irregular migration
