24 Nov 2011

by Camilla Azzini

IOM Italy Migration and Health Unit and Psychosocial Unit

IOM Italy Country Office With Special Coordination for the Mediterranean

The IOM Mission in Rome serves as special coordination for the Mediterranean area which includes Italy, Malta, North Africa and Balkans.

The Mission:

  • facilitates the ordered migration of people in need of assistance;
  • organizes, in the full respect of human dignity, the emigration and/or the voluntary return of migrants and refugees;
  • promotes reception and integration activities in both the countries of destination and of origin;
  • assists the transfers of human resources encouraging social and economic development through migration;
  • if required, offers technical assistance to governments, cooperates to the stabilization of critical areas.

Activities cover different areas of intervention, such as technical co-operation, labour migration and social integration, migration and development, migration and health, counter trafficking and assistance to victims, psychosocial training and support, return migration, reinsertion in the countries of origin, family reunification, information services on migrations related issues.

IOM works alongside UNHCR and Save the Children in the Reception centres in Lampedusa, Sicily and Apulia, providing information and legal counselling to irregular migrants.

IOM Rome cooperates with Governments, International Organizations, local institutions, and for no profit organizations.

Since 1999, the IOM’s Rome developed and implemented psychosocial programming in three main sectors: psychosocial well-being in migration processes; support in post-conflict war torn societies; education and cultural integration.

In 2010, the Psychosocial Unit was integrated within the IOM Italy Migration and Health Unit, under the direct supervision of the HQ and since July 2011, under the MRF Brussels Migration and Health Unit, becoming the Psychosocial Focal Point for Europe.

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The International Organization for Migration (IOM) implemented the pilot project Capacity building action towards Ukrainian local institutions for the empowerment of migratory and social-educational policies on behalf of children, women and local communities, financed by the Italian Development Cooperation, within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Project tackled the negative consequences of labour migration of mothers on their children left at home with a community based approach. More specifically, it tried to identify measures able to reduce the disruption of families in Ukraine highlighting, at the same time, the potential positive effects of migration on Ukrainian young generations.

The project took place in the regions of Ternopil e Chernivtsi, respectively in the Municipalities of Terebovlia and in the Villages of (Lower and Upper) Petrivtsi as amongst the most affected areas in Ukraine.

The project developed an inter-institutional dialogue component involving actors interested in discussing the condition of children left behind in Ukraine and, by extension, the phenomenon of female migration towards Italy. IOM Italy therefore created and coordinated, thanks to the support of the Office for Decentralized Cooperation (DGCS) within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an Italian-Ukrainian Observatory on Migration with the intention of establishing a dialogue between the two countries about the phenomenon of families divided by migration.

The Pedagogical Guidelines for Ukrainian teachers appeared within the project. The guide stresses the importance of promoting positive a scholastic environment that provides children the opportunity to be heard and comprehends their difficult conditions.

Download the Final Report of the project Capacity building action towards Ukrainian local institutions for the empowerment of migratory and social-educational policies on behalf of children, women and local communities.