The Czech Republic Ministry of Interior supports the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in strengthening Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on the migration governance.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – The IOM is launching a 785,000 USD project with funding from the Czech Republic Ministry of Interior’s Aid in Place Programme. The project will complement the current humanitarian response in BiH, to better understand the volume of migrants and asylum-seekers transiting and present in the country, their locations, movement patterns, profile and needs, and to complement the ongoing efforts of the Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) programme to support voluntary, informed, safe, secure, humane, and dignified return and reintegration options for migrants stranded in BiH.

The 12-month project “Strengthen Evidence Based Migration Response through Enhanced Data Collection on Migrants Presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Capacitate the State to Process Returns of Migrants to Their Countries of Origin” builds on three main outcomes: to generate up-to-date data on mixed migration flows and make it available to key stakeholders in BiH; to support BiH State authorities provide guidance on how to better manage and analyse data and address capacity gaps for the identification, screening and registration of migrants; and to strengthen BiH State authorities capacity to offer durable solutions to migrants and help in the process of returns to their countries of origin.

To enable Government agencies, humanitarian actors and IOM, to provide a more tailored assistance, the project will support the country’s efforts to implement the migrants’ presence methodology, which is part of IOM’s global Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) system, to collect and analyze data on the number of irregular migrants inside and outside of official reception centres and disseminate critical multilayered information on the mobility, vulnerabilities and needs of migrants.

Moreover, the project will support BiH State authorities through technical assistance and knowledge transfer to enhance data collection and analysis, particularly in the framework of the SMART CAMP management system, and to better identify and provide protection-sensitive services for migrants both inside and outside the country's reception facilities.

Lastly, the project will ensure an informed decision-making of migrants on their decision to return. Through outreach activities, dissemination of information and the update and promotion of the use of the Support for Migrants application (https://supportformigrants.com/) as well as the application for information provision and AVRR pre-registration – MiRA WB, and the provision of counselling for individuals and families, the project will seek to strengthen knowledge on the IOM AVRR programme, ensuring that it provides up-to-date information to newly registered migrants.