Methodological Report - IMPACT - Impact Evaluation of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa Region

The EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa region was launched in March, 2017 and covers Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, South Sudan and Sudan. The programme supports migrants who decide to voluntarily return to their countries of origin to do so in a safe and dignified way.

The programme uses an integrated approach to the provision of reintegration assistance, including economic, social and psycho-social support that is tailored to the needs of an individual returnee and also implements community-based projects to improve the conditions of reintegration in the areas of return.

The Impact Evaluation of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative Programme for Migrant Protection and Reintegration (Horn of Africa), abbreviated to IMPACT, aims to provide a robust assessment of the impact of IOM’s reintegration assistance, providing an accountability mechanism to beneficiaries of the programme, the donor and wider sector, and an evidence base to inform future reintegration programming, while maximising cost-effectiveness. IMPACT will focus on Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan where the number of programme beneficiaries is the highest.

As a flagship evaluation for IOM, this work is intended to generate substantial learning on evaluating impact of sustainable reintegration programmes, as well as informing future methodological standards. The IMPACT is also expected to inform IOM’s understanding of sustainable reintegration metrics through testing of the relatively new Reintegration Sustainability Index (RSI) and its related survey (Reintegration Sustainability Survey), introduced in 2018 by IOM to better monitor and compare individual reintegration outcomes.