Italy has announced a donation of EUR 3.1 million to an IOM action plan for the socio-economic reintegration of returnees, internally displaced people (IDPs) and vulnerable Afghans in Herat and surrounding western provinces.
The Italian contribution will support thousands of Afghans who fled to Iran to escape the instability, natural disasters and conflict of the past to seek safety and jobs in Iran. In 2008, some 406,000 Afghans, including seasonal workers, returned voluntarily to Afghanistan or were deported.
Together with Afghanistan's 270,000 IDPs and other vulnerable groups, they now live in conditions of abject poverty and are desperately in need of the socio-economic reintegration support that the action plan will provide.
Italy's ambassador to Afghanistan, H.E. Claudio Glaentzer, signed a multilateral agreement on the funding with IOM and the Afghan government at the Italian Embassy in Kabul yesterday.
The Italian funds will be managed by IOM and the relevant Afghan institutions, including the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and local authorities.
The project will provide immediate assistance, including food and shelter, and long term support, including vocational training, community assistance, communal infrastructure projects and capacity building.
For more information please contact Farhad Tarzi at IOM Kabul. Email: ftarzi@iom.int
Copyright © IOM. All rights reserved.
