On return

Education & Work Which access do you believe that rejected asylum seekers should have to education and labor? Not having a job pushes people to leave (or even obligotary cfr Sweden) Opens up person's view on finding multiple ways to prepare his or her future life from a residents perspective, anything is more than nothing we can activate we are not only giving, the resident earns his or own bread if yes, you have more control and you care indirectly for the society Somebody doesn't want to go back if he or she has a job It might be a (false) projection no work is no control or not knowing (black market, etc) if no: the message is clear and coherent

Education & Work Which access do you believe that rejected asylum seekers should have to education and labor? Best practices: a clear message is needed

Role-play 1 Resident and information officer meet after first negative Richard = information officer / social worker Peter = husband Madeleine = his wife

On preconditions What undermines the work of return Which challenges can one encounter? Which preconditions are essential for a good practice on the field of return? Not having a job pushes people to leave (or even obligotary cfr Sweden) Opens up person's view on finding multiple ways to prepare his or her future life from a residents perspective, anything is more than nothing we can activate we are not only giving, the resident earns his or own bread if yes, you have more control and you care indirectly for the society Somebody doesn't want to go back if he or she has a job It might be a (false) projection no work is no control or not knowing (black market, etc) if no: the message is clear and coherent

Best practices: a clear message is needed On preconditions What undermines the work of return Which challenges can one encounter? Which preconditions are essential for a good practice on the field of return?

Role-play 2 Two colleagues from a small NGO heard a rumor Janne = colleague with an opinion Peter = just as much

For instance a religious organization helps people to return (Malta, NL) the network spontaneous information helps people to orientate themselves diaspora / new citizens / migrants do have realistic information on the positive and negatives sights or return Sometimes religious organizations or other pressure in the opposite direction often working on subjects with local community might be a challenge reality based on what the asylum seeker is telling them On local community Which access do you believe that rejected asylum seekers should have to education and labor?

Best practices: inform the local community so they have equal information on the processes regarding AS and our actual role and influence in the local community there are probably people who can play an interesting role regarding relevant information on returning towards the home country (or the down sides on not returning)a clear message is needed

Role-play 3 Educator meets Karim just before sleeping time. His friend got a negative! Richard = unaccompagnied minor Kobe = educator

More things have to be sorted out for minors (in Sweden) Belgium, Holland has a gradual system support for return (logistic) support for setting up a business extra support for vulnerable groups (minors, physical,...) Erpum: special for minors, trying to get the home country more involved (rather new project) What is the point of interest in focusing? The ones that are more easy to convince (for instance single men) or rather families since it is more difficult to convince them or b/c of a particular vulnerability mixed reactions on the possibility to get integration money Vulnerable groups Did you find that there were specific return programs for vulnerable groups such as children, elderly, or people with different challenges?

idea to start an interview to find out the motivation for the one who opts for voluntary return possible target groups we see: based on country health age family composition all information right from the beginning from collective towards individually focused it can't buy me happiness yeah yeah just tell me how much money I can get discrimination and conformism (group pressure) has negative effects when somebody would be solely in charge of the return program (“look this person from our nationality considers a return, he is betraying us!”) Vulnerable groups Did you find that there were specific return programs for vulnerable groups such as children, elderly, or people with different challenges?

an advantage of case officers (compared to specialists on return) can evaluate themselves if they have to discuss the topic more or less often with a particular resident fixed moments to discuss the topic (intake, after first negative, after... etc) Sweden is very convincing: my way or the highway but the goal is return Other countries around the table often leave all possibilities open throughout the discussions we should ask questions and listen and not to much give advice some vulnerable groups didn't choose to come to Europe. They don't own the decision.

Best practices: the faster you step in a return program, the more incentives you'll be benefiting not make a person or desk exclusively responsible of return to avoid stigmatizing group pressure no one size fits all but a general program with more specific options for different target groups, make it more tailor made in the end approach: at first collectively than more individually we tend to belief there should be clear messages: discussion on return is a discussion on return we should challenge residents on all options (e.g. Illegal stay) but we can't propose these kind of options no advising but asking open questions Vulnerable groups Did you find that there were specific return programs for vulnerable groups such as children, elderly, or people with different challenges?

Communication methods: Concluding comments Open questions give information on what the resident asks for be direct continue to be respectful interpreter if needed make sure you won't be distracted by others (phone calls etc.) have some background about the resident and his home country be prepared be authentic if it doesn't click with a resident, see what a colleague can do maybe give also a brochure in their own language Too much room to discuss plenty of things without real focus overload of information (some things they know already, don't talk over the other one's head) don't re-discuss the decision saying “I know” certain are addressing the topic return and others free ride and don't want to be the bad one to mdiscuss a return

Thank you!