Training aimed at identifying migration issues

A TRAINING facilitated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) aimed at identifying issues associated with migration was successfully conducted in Port Moresby last week.
Facilitator Melkie Anton told The National that the training, called training for trainers on community health and mobility in the Pacific, helped different stakeholders, such as the Government, private sector, non-government organisations and churches, identify common challenges people faced as a result of migration that have an impact on their health and wellbeing.
Anton said under the project, IOM provided avenues where representatives from various stakeholders in Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea undergo trainings on how to identify the common challenges centred on migration and equip them with the knowledge and skills on how to address them.
“Each of these countries have their own resource books that were designed to best suit their own contexts with various discussion points and activities for participants,” he said.
“For PNG, the common challenges identified were gender-based violence, sexual exploitation, alcohol-related violence and human trafficking.”
Anton said the aim of the training was to provide trainers with the appropriate knowledge and skills so they were in a better position to inform people in communities about the risks and challenges of migrating.
“The two-day training, which was conducted from last Thursday to Friday, had a good representation from various stakeholders such as Red Cross, Child Fund, Department of Justice and Attorney-General, Caritas, various churches and the IOM,” he said.
Participant, human rights activist and founder and programme coordinator of Magna Carta Pens, Shirley Kaupa, said: “The training provides us with the skills and knowledge to identify the common challenges in relation to migration and the different factors that make people want to migrate in the country.
“The training booklet was designed in the PNG context where trainers now have the confidence to go back and conduct awareness and trainings on the topic.”