Niger hosts three-day festival encouraging safe migration

The International Office of Migration (IOM) recently held a three-day festival in Agadez, Niger aimed at promoting safe migration practices and routes.

Events included a soccer match, participatory theater, mobile documentary screenings, and interactive question and answer sessions with IOM officials on radio programs and in person.

“We have never had a festival that brought together migrants like this, because we never could access the ghettos to talk to the migrants and involve them in cultural activities,"  IOM Agadez Transit Center Manager Azaoua Mahaman said. "In fact, we couldn’t have received a more enthusiastic reaction from them. This has been a great way to disseminate information about migration and integration. It has also broken down barriers between the local community and the migrants."

The program was paid for by the European Union and Italy's Ministry of Interior.