In brief
Côte d’Ivoire announced a 3.5‑million‑dollar pilot project, the KITLANY programme, to help 300 returning migrants and 100 local youths reintegrate through psychosocial support, vocational training and employment. The initiative is expected to generate 150 jobs and benefit 1,200 people indirectly, with donor roundtables set to secure more than half of the required funding. Key questions center on the delivery model, metrics, and long‑term sustainability.
Côte d’Ivoire announced that it will launch a new pilot programme to aid the socio‑economic reintegration of returning migrants. The 18‑to‑24‑month project, worth about 3.5 million U.S. dollars, will be run by the international platform Stay in Africa and will target 300 individuals, including 200 migrants who come back from abroad and 100 young people from affected local communities.
Adama Dosso, the minister delegate in charge of African Integration and Ivorian nationals abroad, said the initiative is designed to provide psychosocial support, vocational training and job placement to participants. He added that the government expects the project to create 150 direct jobs and indirectly benefit 1,200 people, according to official figures released at the second National Conference on Migrants’ Reintegration.
The programme, named KITLANY, will be delivered over 18 to 24 months. It will support 300 individuals in total, providing them with the resources and guidance needed to secure employment in the local economy or start their own small businesses. The plan includes tailored career counselling, business‑management workshops and access to micro‑finance.
Dosso said that the project will also hold donor roundtables held concurrently with the two‑day conference. “We hope these meetings will secure more than 50 percent of the required funding,” he explained. With the cost estimated at 2 billion CFA francs, the Ivorian government seeks to leverage international partners and diaspora contributions to cover the remaining half.
"While returning home sometimes marks the end of a difficult journey, it should also open up new prospects for personal recovery, economic integration and contribution to sustainable development," Dosso added.
He noted that by the end of September, 4,125 returnees had received government assistance, up from 2,313 in 2025. This uptick follows the country’s intensified focus on creating an enabling environment for migrants to settle and prosper.
While the project promises promising outcomes, several open questions remain. First, how will the programme integrate the training and job placements with local labour markets that have limited capacity? Local NGOs have expressed concern that the supply of suitable jobs may not match the number of trained migrants. The project also must track whether the creation of 150 direct jobs will be sustainable beyond the pilot period, as Dosso did not detail any post‑pilot strategy.
Second, there are uncertainties about the financial model. The planned donor roundtables aim to secure over half of the funding, but the source of the remaining 1.75 million USD is unspecified. Some observers caution that a delayed or insufficient foreign investment could stall the project, especially given that the initiative relies on global partners such as the International Organization for Migration.
Third, measurement of success will be a challenge. While Dosso cited direct and indirect job figures, the criteria for evaluating personal recovery and community impact were not defined. Analysts from the Centre for Development Studies suggest that a robust monitoring framework would need to include metrics on income levels, employment stability, and psychosocial well‑being.
Data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicate an increasing trend of Ivorian diaspora repatriation in the last decade. However, little is known about the exact numbers of migrants who apply or who successfully complete psychosocial programmes before re‑entering the workforce. Ongoing research by the National Institute of Statistics aims to fill this gap.
International partners have shown interest. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has expressed support for a similar initiative in East Africa, and the World Bank has earmarked a small contingency fund to assist with the logistics of the pilot in case of unforeseen obstacles. This collaboration could offer a blueprint for scaling up the programme outside Abidjan.
Stakeholders are also focusing on potential ripple effects. By investing in returning migrants’ reintegration, the government hopes to alleviate social tensions in border communities, improve public health outcomes through better access to services, and enhance rural development.
The project’s name, KITLANY—meaning “return” in the local Dioula language—underscores its focus on bridging the gap between foreign experience and local opportunities. Its launch follows a tradition of using community‑centric terminology to foster ownership among beneficiaries.
In the coming weeks, the Ministry of Social Development will release a detailed implementation plan, outlining training curricula, partner qualifications and expected milestones. The first group of participants is scheduled to begin training in two months, as the minister stated at the conference.
For now, the pilot project represents a significant step for Côte d’Ivoire. By combining psychosocial support, vocational training and sponsorship from international partners, the initiative aims to turn the return of migrants into a catalyst for broader socioeconomic development. How well the project meets its targets remains to be seen, but the country has set a clear agenda: to transform a wave of repatriation into a source of growth and resilience.
