IOM promotes campaign on development opportunities for young people in El Salvador

San Salvador, El Salvador. – The International Organization for Migration (IOM), in coordination with over 25 local partners, launched the Communication for Development campaign Conectá con tu futuro [Connect with your future], which has the primary goal of providing trustworthy information on regular migration and local opportunities to young people in the municipality of Ahuachapán.

The event was led by Henry Flores, Director of Assistance to Victims and Forced Migration; Marcela Pineda, Director of the National Youth Institute; Jonathan Lloyd, Human Rights Attaché at the Embassy of the United States in El Salvador; and Alexandra Bonnie, Coordinator of IOM’s Regional Migration Program: Mesoamerica - The Caribbean. Participants included representatives of the municipal government of Ahuachapán, academia, civil society organizations, and the young people of the municipality.

Conectá con tu futuro is being implemented through mass dissemination of information, personalized assistance, and community activities. “We have taken advantage of the resources that communication for development gives us for listening to and working with young people and local partners since the beginning of the initiative. Because of its contributions, today we can invite young people to inform themselves using audiovisuals designed for and with them. The community was also mobilized by the installation of fifteen information points about alternatives to irregular migration in the municipality,” stated Alexandra Bonnie.

Prior to developing the campaign, IOM conducted research with over 500 young people in the community, which showed that internet and television are the media they use most to get information. It highlighted young people’s need for information, indicating that over 60% of those who would consider migrating to another country were looking for information about regular migration.

As part of the campaign, IOM has created a website, migrantinfo.iom.int/sv, that compiles information on alternatives for development that the population of Ahuachapán can access. Likewise, in conjunction with the General Directorate of Migration and Foreign Affairs (DGME), staff of institutions that operate in the municipality of Ahuachapán were trained to form a network of information points where young people will be able get personalized advising.

“This campaign is the result of a process that included base research through surveys, various levels of validation, the production of audiovisuals that the young people of the municipality can relate to, and the creation of a variety of graphics that IOM will use to promote behavior changes that encourage social development,” said Cecilia Ramírez, National Coordinator of the Project.

Conectá con tu futuro is part of the IOMX project and is being run within the framework of the Regional Migration Program: Mesoamerica - The Caribbean, which operates with funds from the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the Department of State of the United States of America, and has the objective of building the capacities of governments and civil society to develop policies and practices that promote regular and safe migration.

For more information, please contact Tatiana Chacón, at the IOM Regional Office for Central America, North America and the Caribbean, Tel: +506 8632 8527, Email: tchacon@iom.int