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Reintegration Hub

Community and Detainee Engagement

Supporting informed decisions in communities and detention centres.

IRARA’s community and detainee engagement programme ensures individuals in communities of origin or in detention abroad are empowered with accurate, accessible, and culturally appropriate information. By addressing the specific challenges of both settings, we help create the conditions in which individuals can make informed and voluntary decisions about staying or returning home.

In countries of origin, our communications campaigns include:

  • Culturally tailored messaging: Developed in collaboration with local partners and governments, our messaging addresses local migration drivers, debunks myths about life abroad, and promotes awareness of safe and legal migration
  • Digital and offline distribution: We reach remote and digitally underserved communities using a range of formats, including community radio, WhatsApp audio broadcasts, theatre, posters, and mobile apps. Every message is adapted to local dialects, preferences, and delivery
  • Data-led targeting: Our communications teams use AI-powered segmentation and real-time analytics to understand which audiences are most at risk of irregular migration. This allows us to adjust outreach campaigns dynamically and increase the impact of voluntary return

 

In detention centres, we provide:

  • Return counsellor training: We train IRC staff and frontline workers to engage with detainees in a trauma-informed, culturally sensitive, and empathetic way. Our capacity-building sessions equip them to guide individuals through return options and reintegration planning with clarity and
  • Pre-departure sessions: Delivered both one-on-one and in group settings, these sessions explain the full return process, eligibility criteria, reintegration options, and legal context. They allow returnees to ask questions, clarify misunderstandings, and prepare themselves practically and
  • Orientation calls: Every returnee receives a phone call from a member of IRARA’s in-country team, conducted in the returnee’s native language. These calls build immediate rapport and provide grounded, culturally fluent guidance about arrival procedures, support networks, and next
  • Returning Home video: Played within detention centres, this short, rights-based video introduces IRARA’s services and explains the reintegration journey in accessible language. It outlines return logistics, support available, and how IRARA’s approach differs from other

 

IRARA’s approach to community and detainee engagement is grounded in trust, relevance, and dignity. Whether in a rural village or an immigration removal centre, we meet people where they are and support them with the information and reassurance they need to take their next steps with confidence.