A/HRC/41/46
where they spend four hours a day, four days a week, engaging in professional skillsbuilding and technology training in the form of coding boot camps. As survivors work
through the training programme, they are given the opportunity to take on paid projects
with external clients. As they continue to build their skills and expertise, their project
portfolios increase in complexity and the income they earn rises. Another critical
component in the model is the partnerships that are built to ensure that each beneficiary has
access to comprehensive service provision, such as for childcare, therapy, and legal
advocacy. Upon completion of the programme, beneficiaries move on to full-time
employment.
53.
The Special Rapporteur also welcomes the efforts of the Associazione Comunità
Papa Giovanni XXIII, which supports women survivors in accessing the haute couture
dress production in some parts of Italy. The Special Rapporteur was also positively
impressed by the work of IOM in Ethiopia, which has recently faced the emergency of
mass returns – estimated at 200,000 persons in 2018 alone – of vulnerable Ethiopian
migrants, including trafficked persons, from Saudi Arabia. In order to support the
reintegration of vulnerable returnees, IOM has been liaising with the private sector and
forged partnerships with private firms to secure employment opportunities. This is the case
of Penda Manufacturing PLC, a paper recycling company in Addis Ababa, with which IOM
entered into an agreement. In cooperation with the Addis Ababa City Administration, the
company collects paper from 7,000 micro-enterprise collectors in the city. As part of this
agreement, the company has been collecting and recycling waste paper from IOM – thereby
reducing that organization’s ecological footprint – and has so far employed 25 female
Ethiopian returnees from Saudi Arabia, who are running mobile paper waste deposit sites,
collecting waste paper for which Penda Manufacturing PLC compensates them. The
Special Rapporteur also commends the IOM community-based reintegration programmes
implemented by civil society organizations in Nigeria, such as the Committee for the
Support of the Dignity of Women and the Society for the Empowerment of Young Persons,
in areas heavily affected by returns, whereby, in consultation with the community, a
mapping of business opportunities available is conducted, and community businesses, such
as for the production of pineapple juice and other fruit juices, for palm oil and vegetable oil
processing and for cassava processing, are being set up in Edo and Delta States. These
initiatives are likely to reduce the stigma associated with returns, by enriching entire
communities at risk and providing socioeconomic reintegration opportunities.41
54.
The Special Rapporteur was also impressed by the work of SPARK, an NGO in
Burundi, which has adopted the 3x6 approach developed by the United Nations
Development Programme for the social inclusion of migrant returnees. Once vulnerable
persons are identified, they are enrolled in rapid income-generation projects, which always
include a compulsory savings component deposited in a savings account at a local
microfinance institution. After the completion of cash-for-work projects, they are
encouraged to join hands with their peers, drawing on their three months’ savings, to begin
joint income-generating activities. In order to encourage collective investments, each group
generates an additional investment that equates to three times the amount of the savings.
Prior to the approval of the business plan, a feasibility study is conducted to assess market
opportunities in the selected area of operations. From 2015 to the present time, the project
has benefited 3,000 returnees. Such an approach could be replicated on a larger scale.
55.
Another innovative approach is that adopted by the NGO On the Road, in Central
America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico). On the Road aims to reach out
to the most marginalized communities for the creation of “street businesses” (such as
repairing bicycles, selling food or selling other merchandise, in the street). As part of this
project, the organization carries out a market analysis and provides survivors with
appropriate business plans, as well as with legal, financial and promotional skills. 42
41
42
Submissions to the Special Rapporteur from the Society for the Empowerment of Young Persons and
IOM.
Submission to the Special Rapporteur from On the Road.
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