Returning from Saudi Arabia

As part of Altai’s Research, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Partner (MERL Partner) role with the FCDO-funded Ethiopia Migration Programme (EMP), Altai was tasked by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) to conduct an operational research module on Ethiopian forced and voluntary returns from Saudi Arabia, with a particular focus on understanding migration experiences in Saudi Arabia and the deportation/returns process and subsequent reintegration into Ethiopian society. The research involved extensive qualitative fieldwork with around 100 returnees across North Wollo and Addis, which was complemented with a ‘tracer study’ involving a quantitative survey with 750 returnees, complemented with around 30 qualitative in-depth interviews to build case stories. The tracer study was developed building on IOM’s psychosocial, economic and social reintegration model.