Book Description

In 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered an increase in the number of migrants returning to their countries of origin. A significant proportion of these returnees moved back to rural areas. In this context, assisting returnees in the process of reintegration has become a key priority for stakeholders, both in terms of immediate and medium- to long-term support. This toolkit aims to support local stakeholders and actors in agrifood systems to integrate rural returnees into programmes and other initiatives to develop the agrifood sector. It provides resources to design and implement programmes and projects to facilitate the reintegration of returnees in rural areas. The ultimate objective is to coordinate these reintegration efforts with larger rural development and rural transformation efforts and stimulate mutually reinforcing outcomes that support the achievement of sustainable livelihoods and well-being for local populations. The publication also includes a variety of tools to guide stakeholders during all phases of the programme cycle in the designing and implementing interventions that align with the recommendations given in the forthcoming publication, Global lessons learned on sustainable reintegration in rural areas study report, which was commissioned by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and produced by Samuel Hall.