Summary of the project

“Return Information Project and Vulnerable Groups”

We provide information on return countries and return possibilities to potential returnees, their advisors, social workers and migrant communities.

This information serves return counselling as well as return preparation.

Main Objective of the project is to give the correct attention to the issue of voluntary return presenting it as one of the possible solutions for foreigners irregularly leaving in European Countries, who do not have any chance of  integration: starting from the research and dissemination of objective and tailored information  on return countries to facilitate the choice to voluntarily return.

The project gathers and provides information on:

-          access to the territory,

-          personal security,

-          accommodation and housing,

-          work opportunities,

-          social security items,

-          health care, education, etc.

To this end, we have built up a network of local partners in return countries.

The service we offer is threefold:

1/ We run an information desk where specific and individual questions may be asked in order to decide on return or on its preparation. We always try to find ourselves an adequate answer through desk-research. If the information gathered does not prove satisfactory, the question is transferred to our local partner for a further and closer research.

2/ The project provides country fact sheets with " what you should know about…" information on the 19 target-countries . These files are documented by international reports and can be consulted on www.cri-project.eu.

3/ We provide training in research techniques  to our local partners to ensure that the information gathered meets high quality standards. We also train migrant organisations in Europe to be active partners in the dissemination of information on return possibilities.

Partners:

- lead and coordination: Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen (Flemish Council for Refugee- Belgium)

6 European organisations gather information on selected countries of return, in close collaboration with local partners.

¬ Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen, Belgium: Russia, Albania, Guinée

¬CIRE, Belgium: Ecuador, Algeria, DR Congo

 ¬Caritas International, Belgium: Armenia, Georgia, Serbia, Montenegro

¬ CIR, Italy: Cameroon, Ghana and Egypt

¬ ACCEM, Spain: Marocco, Argentinia, Bolivia

¬ Danish Refugee Council, Denmark: Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia

Duration: January 1^st 2008- July 31^st 2009

The Country of Return Information Project functions, in fact, as a network of NGOs for the collection and transfer of specific information on reintegration possibilities for potential returnees and their counselors. This project is based on Country Fact Sheets, providing detailed information on the Country of Return, and on a helpdesk service, answering specific questions through a network of local partners.

Our information strategy

The Country Return Information project seeks its information both on the internet, as well as by interventions of local partners who organise their own fact-finding actions when it comes upon gathering practical and specific information on reintegration possibilities.

We use different sources:

-  books or other texts by experts;

-  reports by both governmental and non-governmental organisations;

-  media sources, such as newspapers, magazines and/or documentaries;

-  oral sources, interviews taken from (local) experts.

Our hypothesis is that potential returnees go through a long process before taking their eventual decision to return. At the beginning, they look for very general information such as: safety conditions, political situation, access to the country, general economic development, etc.

They gather this kind of information through contacts they still have in the country, with social workers and lawyers in the host countries, in the country information sheets or in other information sources accessible on the internet.

If after these first steps they still consider to return, they are in need for more detailed information. This information will no longer be (easily) available on the internet. In this phase the project becomes important in the provision of more sensible information.