Re-Balancing the Reintegration Process and the Potential of Mentoring for Returnees: Evidence from Senegal, Guinea and Morocco

Pathways to reintegration in Senegal and Nigeria promoted by Italian Assisted Voluntary Return programmes

“…However, in the debate on the issue—which is driven mainly by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) (Marino & Lietaert, 2022: 177)—there has been at least a partial shift in focus from sustainability in its narrowest sense to the sustainability of the reintegration in a broader sense (Vathi et al., 2023: 372). From the perspective of sustainable reintegration, the returnee migrating again is no longer necessarily seen as a failure of the return and reintegration itself, as long as this secondary migration occurs through lawful channels and is a decision made voluntarily rather than out of necessity (IOM, 2017: 3; Marino & Lietaert, 2022: 177; Majidi et al., 2023: 564).…”

“…In this respect, there are some who point out that returning can result in depression and a sense of isolation, because when many people make the decision to return, they fail to take into account how much their homeland may have changed whilst they were away (Bilecen, 2022: 378). The second consideration is that, regardless of whether or not it could truly be considered voluntary—an issue we have previously addressed—AVR is nonetheless an option that was not part of the original migration plan for those who later ended up using it, meaning that it therefore constitutes a failure of the plan itself in some capacity (Majidi et al., 2023). This is another reason why people who return to their homeland through AVR and AVRR programmes are, in at least some respects, vulnerable individuals (King & Kuschminder, 2022: 14) who, for this very reason, will find it more difficult to reintegrate.…”

“…Negatively speaking, it is important to bear in mind that those who return under AVR and AVRR programmes, as well as those who have been subjected to a forced return, may be given a frosty reception by friends and relatives. As several studies have already shown (Vathi et al., 2023: 376), the returnee is often faced with the shame and stigma of their migration journey having failed, at least in the eyes of others (Majidi et al., 2023: 566). This stigma can also be intensified in the remarkably common event that before leaving, the migrant took on debts to fund their plans for migration: debts that they have been and still remain unable to repay (King & Kuschminder, 2022: 12).…”