Ho, Ghana – The International Organization for Migration (IOM), in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior (MINTER) and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and with funding from the IOM Development Fund, organised a workshop (30 August to 3 September 2021) to support the Government of Ghana in building the capacities of its migration desk officers to analyze and disseminate migration data which was collected as part of the recent National Census. Enhanced migration data management will support the implementation of the National Migration Data Strategy (NMDS) as well as improve migration governance in the country overall.

The capacity building workshop strengthened the knowledge of 38 migration desk officers (25 men, 13 women) of MINTER’s Migration Unit to collect, analyse and disseminate harmonised migration-related data, including ensuring gender disaggregation of the data. The workshop also aimed to enhance coordination among key migration stakeholders to ensure the implementation of the National Migration Data Strategy.

Godwin Odei Gyebi, Head of Data Production at GSS, said: “The successful collection, analyses and dissemination of administrative data to complement the analyses of census data, will help to effectively formulate policies for emerging migration issues as well as to update the National Migration Profile.”

The training included sessions on migration terminologies and concepts, an overview of the National Migration Data Strategy, and presentation and discussion of the data collection template, the ECOWAS migration harmonisation requirements, and analysis of migration information and data. IOM, GSS, the Centre for Migration Studies and the IOM Global Migration Data and Analysis Centre (GMDAC) in Berlin, Germany facilitated the workshop.

Dominic Agyeman, Director for the Migration Unit at the Ministry for Interior, said: “The Ministry of the Interior, with support from IOM, has started the process for the establishment of the Ghana National Commission on Migration (GNCM) and the data from the migration desk officers will help inform the mandate and the model for the Commission.” He commended IOM for the continuous support to the Ministry and the fruitful collaboration over the years.

During the workshop, the Bank of Ghana, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, the Ghana Refugee Board and the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection (MoGSCP) shared data with GSS, which, with the support from the Centre of Migration Studies, will analyze the data to produce a national migration bulletin.

The workshop was part of the “Mainstreaming Migration into the National Census” project (2019-2022). Within the project, the GSS had previously received financial support to conduct the National Population and Housing Census (2021). The project also supports the organisation of monthly coordination meetings focussed on the implementation of the NMDS. Going forward, the GSS will receive support to analyse and produce a thematic migration report of the National Census to inform evidence-based policy formulation in Ghana, as well as carryout national sensitization meetings on the census analyses.

As the United Nation’s migration agency, IOM continues to be committed to supporting the Government of Ghana to build capacity to manage migration data effectively and harmoniously.

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For more information, contact Eric Akomanyi, Project Assistant at IOM Ghana, at EAkomanyi@iom.int, +233 30 274 2930.