The International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies

ARAISA 2010 ConferenceSt. John’s, NL

2

IOM At A GlanceIOM is:• a global inter-governmental organization dealing with a

wide range of migration issues• dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for

the benefit of all by providing services and advice to governments and migrants.

Vitals:• 127 Member States• 440 offices in more than 120 countries• A staff of over 7,000• 2,030+ programs/ projects totaling over a billion dollarsStructure:• Headquarters in Geneva, with a number of regional offices

3

IOM & Canada• Canada and IOM have a long history of

working together • 3 main areas IOM provides service for the

Government of Canada: Medical Orientation Movements

• IOM office located in Ottawa• Ottawa staff provide project support and

liaison for activities conducted overseas

4

Canadian Orientation Abroad

• COA is a pre-departure orientation project funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)

• COA has been implemented by IOM since 1998

• IOM also provides Cultural Orientation for refugees bound to the: US, Norway, Finland, Australia, the UK

• COA Global Management situated in IOM Amman• COA Liaison and training support located in IOM

Ottawa• COA facilitator’s are locally engaged staff

5

COA Eligibility• COA is offered free of charge to all categories of migrants for

whom PR status is intended, these are in order of priority:– Refugees– Skilled Workers– Family Class– Provincial Nominees– Live-in-Caregivers– Investors

• COA is offered generally: – 3 days for urban refugees – 5 days for camp based refugees – for all other classes for 1 day

• Participation is voluntary, but encouraged

Bhutanese refugees in COA Nepal

6

COA Objectives• To provide accurate information about life in Canada

• To help immigrants develop realistic expectations about settlement

• To develop immigrants’ awareness and skills necessary for successful adaptation to their new society particularly during their first 6 mos. of stay in Canada

• To address participants concerns and questions

COA Manila

7

COA Permanent Sites• Africa (3 sites): Ethiopia, Kenya and Ghana

(Kenya mobile: Uganda, Sudan, Eritrea and Ghana mobile: Benin, Sierra Leone)

• Asia (3 sites): Nepal, Philippines, Pakistan• Europe (1 site): Russia• Latin America (1 site): Colombia• Middle East (5 sites): Egypt,

Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and • Mobile training missions also took place in:

Uzbekistan, Romania (ETC), Syria, etc.

8

COA Content

Some topics covered in the orientation:• Facts about Canada, Canadian climate/weather• Travel procedures to Canada• Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) • Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program • Rights, responsibilities, laws• Housing• Healthcare• Education• Finances & Budgeting• Working in Canada• Cultural shock/adaptation• Services available including settlement• Other, according to the needs & specific questions

brought up by the group

9

COA StatisticsSince inception 124,146 individuals have received

COAIn the project year 2009-2010:• COA sessions were conducted in 32 different

locations in 21 different countries• 14,831 individuals were invited to attend COA• A total of 13,800 individuals received COA training

world-wide:Refugees represented 5,558 individualsSkilled workers 5,126Family class 2,052Live in Caregivers 1,064

10

COA Trainers

• Majority COA trainers are locally engaged staff

• Preference dual nationals/ Canadian PRs, or have lived/ visited Canada extensively

• Multilingual

• Some facilitator’s are full time others on call or assigned to other IOM projects (Operations)

Training of Refugee Facilitators, Ottawa November 2009

11

Noteworthy Activities

• Familiarization Visit of 10 COA refugee facilitators to Canada in Feb 2009

• First-ever Training for Refugee Facilitators in Canada in Nov 2009

• Observation Visits to 3 COA refugee training sites for 15 SPO representatives in Mar. 2010

Left: Visit to COA Nepal, Right: Visit to COA Kenya

12

COA Observation Visits

• 14 RAP SPOs & 1 staff from RSTP visited 3 COA sites: Kenya, Syria and Nepal in late Mar/Apr. 2010

• IOM requested applications• IOM funded travel and stipend• Arranged to see IOM resettlement operations,

COA & meet with partner agencies

• Participants submitted reports about visit including various recommendations for COA/IOM

13

The EndThe EndIOM Ottawa Contacts:

Tracy Vunderink, COA Project Liaisontvunderink@iom.int

Ahmad Fahim, Head of Officeafahim@iom.int

Telephone: 613-237-0651