Program of Cooperation in the Black Sea region in the Area of Migration between Countries of Origin, Transit and Destination (Program) aims to protect and promote migrants’ rights, combat human trafficking and irregular migration. It is intended to enhance the capacities of both the government and civil society institutions in the countries of Black See region in dealing with current trends and consequences of global population movement phenomenon referring particularly to the issues of irregular migration and human trafficking. The Program is carried out in close cooperation with two organizations, LaStrada – Ukraine and KEPAD from Greece. The overall objective of the Program is to protect migrants' rights, protect them against exploitation and exclusion, and support the fight against irregular migration and against trafficking in human beings. The Program overall objective will be achieved through implementation of well coordinated and tailored activities carried out in the frames of three major directions presenting the three strategic objectives of the project.

 

The Strategic Objective 1 aims to build the policy dialogue and policy making processes in order to better address the “protection of migrants’ rights, fight against irregular migration and human trafficking issues on basis of assessment of the situation and research”. The Strategic Objective 2 presumes to facilitate the “fight against irregular migration”. It envisages the implementation of activities preventing irregular migration and human trafficking. The Strategic Objective 3 is set to contribute towards the “fight against trafficking in human beings” in the Black See countries. It is to be achieved through series of activities aimed at capacity building of the institutions concerned, particularly of those engaged in prosecution of organized crime involved in irregular migration /trafficking and the ones dealing with identification, protection and reintegration of trafficking victims.

 

The last strategic objective mainly refers to the qualified human resources involved, meaning all those who in one or the other way (either through decision making or provision of services) influence the situation with victims of trafficking / irregular migration. Wide range of state officials and specialists representing the academic / university circles and NGO / private sector are involved in the resolution of serious problems caused by the growing migration trends. It is obvious that the complexity of the issue and its multifaceted character require engagement and effective collaboration of highly qualified professionals from different areas equipped with modern knowledge, skills and abilities in order to guarantee a high degree of relevance in the needs – capacity ratio. This will form an essential basis for further improvement of respective institutions’ performance effectiveness in addressing the irregular migration / trafficking related problems and meeting the needs of victims (potential victims).

 

In this sense, by “building the capacities of the institutions concerned” the Program presumes enhancement of professional capacities of specialists from Black See countries (Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Russia, Bulgaria) dealing with migration / trafficking related issues through enriching their existing capacities with modern knowledge and experience including, particularly, the matters referring to internationally accepted approaches and standards in this area.

 

Within the frames of the given Program specific training courses will be organized in Georgia which will serve as an education opportunity for social workers (social sphere worker, psychologists from NGOs and state institutions, masters students) dealing with irregular migration / human trafficking issues. The training courses for social workers will be developed and conducted with involvement of highly qualified experts and facilitators.

 

2 similar training courses with duration of 15 days will be held. It is planned to have 45 participants per course totaling up to 90 participants (one shift of 45 participants involves 3 groups with 15 participants per group). Courses will be held in the PHDS Regional Training Centre within the period of September - October , 2010 . The training will be conducted in Russian.