Cairo, 16 January 2017 – Within the framework of the European Union (EU) funded programme, “Regional Development and Protection Programme in North Africa - RDPP”, IOM Egypt organized this week a technical roundtable to determine migrants’ priority needs as well as Egyptian communities hosting them.

The event comes first in a series of upcoming roundtables with relevant actors working with migrant and host communities in Egypt to facilitate exchange and dialogue, as well as identify common challenges and recommendations to better inform IOM’s coordinated response with governmental and non-governmental actors. This event also validated IOM’s findings on the needs of migrant and host communities, as well as the priority areas for intervention including: access to education, health, housing, physical protection, livelihood and income generating activities, in turn contributing to overall community cohesion.

The event was chaired by IOM and attended by 49 representatives from more than 20 civil society organizations and private sector entities, as well as the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the EU Delegation in Egypt.

“We are very happy with the high turnout and the invaluable inputs provided on the needs of migrant and Egyptian host communities. Going forward, we plan to continue to adopt this participatory approach to ensure the priority needs identified by our governmental and non-governmental partners are duly taken into consideration and addressed. Continued dialogue and coordination amongst all actors is key in ensuring high responsiveness and a maximized impact of IOM’s interventions. We are pleased to have had the EU and the Government of Egypt represented at such a critical time of this programme.” said Amr Taha, IOM Egypt Head of Office.

RDPP is an EU-funded programme implemented in five countries in North Africa, namely Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Libya. The programme aims to build the resilience and capacity of host communities to better absorb and support migrants in North Africa while ensuring community cohesion, addressing socio-economic concerns and protecting the rights of migrants in the region.

For further information, please contact Zeinab Sabet at IOM Egypt. Tel: +202-27365140, Email: iomegypt@iom.int