The International Organization for Migration (IOM) with young people, local authorities and with support from the Migration Information Centre in Sunyani, have launched the “WAKAWell, Fa Kwan Pa So” Campaign in Sunyani yesterday.
The campaign aims at preventing exploitation associated with irregular migration by empowering young people in the Bono and Bono East regions to make informed migration-related decisions.
In Ghana, young people aged 15-25 often find themselves at a crossroads wherein they must decide whether to migrate, and if so, how they should do it. This is a key moment in their lives where the actions they take will have substantive consequences.
An IOM study conducted in the cities of Techiman and Sunyani, in October 2021, revealed that 19% of people are aware of the risks of irregular migration but still believe that migrating is the ‘only way to improve their lives’.
Regarding the source of information, the study revealed that 3 out of 4 respondents aged 15-35 use social media for information on migration, among them, 98 per cent use WhatsApp and 88 per cent use Facebook not knowing whether the information is accurate or not. This shows a gap in access to accurate and trustworthy information (both online and in-person) on how to migrate abroad regularly and what the available opportunities are at home are.
To address this, WAKAWell Fa Kwan Pa So campaign by IOM X ( IOM X is IOM’s campaign to encourage safe migration and public action to stop exploitation and human trafficking.) includes a series of videos highlighting migration experiences and individual definitions of success.
The videos were created as a result of participatory workshops that brought together 16 young people from Sunyani (Bono region), Techiman (Bono East region) and nearby communities to actively shape the design of the campaign.
“I foresee this campaign to have great impact on the lives of young people. Knowing there are opportunities here in Ghana we can take advantage of, I believe will reduce the urge to embark on irregular migration. I am happy that this campaign is being shaped by young people like myself for other young people in the region,” said Victor Gyabaah, a teacher and a participant of the workshop.
WAKAWell by IOM X also features an online platform, WAKAwell.info/Ghana, which provides reliable and tailored information on migration pathways for countries and information about local opportunities including education, professional training, business development and employment available in these communities.
“For us, at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the youth is key to many of our interventions. We work together with our partners to empower young people to make well-informed migration choices. Through our interventions we have seen a lot of young people embark on dangerous journeys – in search for better opportunities elsewhere. Today, WakaWell is here and we hope the young people in these communities take advantage of it and visit the website for safe migration options,” said Ms Abibatou Wane, IOM Ghana Chief of Mission.
