 Community reintegration – how do you set up an effective community-based reintegration project? The sustainability of returnies reintegration is strongly linked with the communities they return to. Communities with strong social networks and access to resources can provide support and protection to returnies and themselves benefit from the reintegration process. But when communities are unable to provide support and protection, the return experience can be a risk factor for both the community and the returnies. Perceived or actual economic competition for jobs, strains on services and infrastructure in high-return areas and stigmatisation of returnies are all potential barriers to sustainable reintegration. This is when community-based reintegration interventions can make a difference. Community-based interventions can include a wide range of activities, for example setting up job creation initiatives, promoting dialogue among community members and implementing small-scale infrastructure projects. Project approaches can differ too, supporting returnies to set up collective projects with community members, creating new community-based projects or including returnies into existing community-based projects. Generally, all community-level reintegration initiatives aim to contribute to an environment that is conducive to sustainable reintegration in communities of return and foster inclusion and strengthen their resilience. How can we set up an effective community-based reintegration project? 1. Engage with community members so they are owners of reintegration initiatives. The key is to use participatory methods to promote local ownership among returnies and their community. From the early stages of a project, it is critical that returnies and community members are involved in mapping, assessment and design of initiatives, as well as in decision-making to be able to influence priorities and implementation structures and implementation of the project itself. This approach increases the sense of empowerment, self-reliance and ownership. It recognises that local actors are knowledgeable about local development and environmental needs. Ultimately, it helps fostering sustainability after the assistance has ended. 2. Gain a deep understanding of the community Participation starts when identifying the needs of the community and the impact that return migration may have on the entire community. We need to gain a deep understanding of the community dynamics through community profiling and assessment. Community profiles identify the needs and resources of a community and the impact of return migration on these. For example, you can map the economic sectors that can offer the best opportunities for growth, expansion and capacity to absorb returnies and help foster positive attitudes among the community. Assessments give us information on existing gaps and possible synergies and help us to understand where and what type of assistance would be most effective. 3. Foster social cohesion between returnies and community members Community dynamics are often complex and not always favourable to returnies reintegration. Returnies' feelings of belonging depend on many factors, including the time spent abroad and the migration experiences. Empowering returnies to share their experiences with return communities and build social networks can increase their resilience, while limiting stigmatisation by fostering understanding and acceptance from the community. This can be done through dedicated awareness-raising events or by fostering spaces for dialogue and exchange at the local level. Practically speaking, cohesion between returnies and community members can be nurtured through community mobilisation that can involve processes like awareness-raising events, priority setting, planning implementation and monitoring of community progress, peer support mechanisms, community networks created on the basis of cultural, artistic and physical expression. To know more on community-based reintegration, consult the IOM Reintegration Handbook.