The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has launched its Displacement Tracking Matrix in The Gambia from 10 to 14 June.
Displacement Tracking Matrix abbreviated as ‘DTM’ tracks and monitors population mobility – capturing, processing and disseminating information to provide a better understanding of the movements and evolving needs of people on the move in places of origin, transit and destination, according to the IOM statement.
The initiative launched in collaboration with the Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS), is meant to facilitate evidence-based decision making on migration governance and response to the needs of vulnerable migrants, the statement added.
“Given the significance of migration to The Gambia’s social fabric, gaining a more comprehensive picture of mobility is critical, especially to enhance preparedness and response to the needs of migrants. Only when we understand who is migrating where and for what reasons can we design appropriate policies and interventions to better govern migration and promote migrants’ rights,” Stephen Matete, IOM’s Immigration and Border Management Programme Manager in The Gambia said in the dispatch.
The tool was piloted from 10th to 11th June 2021, after 15 enumerators were trained on data collection. Four locations –Barra, Basse, Brikama and Farafenni – were identified as Flow Monitoring Points (FMPs), which will calculate quantitative estimates of migrant movements. The locations were selected for being areas of high transit, following a participatory mapping by stakeholders during a national consultation forum in November 2020 and a series of regional consultations in January 2021 with local stakeholders, the dispatch stated.
The release specified that the focus of the surveys is to collect information on migrant demographics, social and economic profiles; journey history and routes; migration motivations and intentions; and the impact of COVID-19 on mobility.
The Data collection commenced on 14th June and will continue for an initial period of nine months, the dispatch informed.
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