Cairo, 18 June, 2017 – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) organized an Iftar event on Sunday 19 June for migrant community leaders to strengthen relationships with the migrant communities in Egypt

The event highlights IOM’s strong commitment to support migrant communities through maintaining open communication channels with  community leaders and to establish opportunities for communities for networking and sharing resources in the community. The event also provided an opportunity to disseminate information regarding key services provided by IOM in Egypt, the appropriate referral mechanisms for accessing services, identification and appropriate response for potential victims of trafficking in their community and an introduction to and promotion of the Bosla Migrant directory website (www.bosla-egypt.info).

The event, chaired by IOM and hosted by Tadamon, included 28 community leaders and representatives from community based organisations from 17 African and Asian communities.

During the event, IOM identified key persons in each community to support services and related community activities. Going forward, IOM will endeavor to consolidate these relationships in order to support the community, respond to needs and foster community cohesion and capacity building activities.

Introducing the event, Ms Amy Edwards, IOM Egypt’s Direct Assistance and Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration Team Leader, said “IOM recognises the vital role that communities play firstly in ensuring the wellbeing of one another, identifying needs, and timley respondse to the same. IOM works with migrant and host communities to build healthy, responsive communities, empowered to respond to the needs of their members”.

This intervention was implemented with the generous contribution of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, under the project “Sustainable Solutions for Vulnerable Migrants in Egypt (SolVE)”.

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