IOM Conex: Engaging partnerships on migrant protection and assistance

CONEX is a one-year project that is funded by the Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (FEDASIL) and is executed by IOM in Belgium and Luxembourg together with the partners of the CONEX network. The project aims to engage and strengthen partnerships on migration protection and assistance and to improve the referral of migrants in vulnerable situations to professional counselling services in support of their basic rights, including voluntary return and reintegration.

Conex takes on a multi-level approach to informing migrants about their individual rights, by not only focusing on direct, individual support to migrants, but also by involving organizations and actors for migrant assistance and protection and by providing local authorities with tools to tailor their policies to the needs on the ground.

In order to improve the overall protection of migrants, the project includes researching and mapping exercises, training and information sessions for partners, exchanges of good practices and a Summer School in collaboration with Odisee Hogeschool. Read the Conex Infosheet 2024.

IOM Belgium and Luxembourg and the organizations in its network offer a wide range of trainings and info sessions. Organizations, companies and public institutions have the possibility to tap into this knowledge network that aims to build capacity and to facilitate the exchange of expertise at multiple levels across the regions of Belgium and beyond.

Find out more:

IOM Training catalogue

Through the Incentive Fund, CONEX also supports organizations in Belgium that carry out innovative activities related to the wide range of protection tools for migrants. These activities have a particular focus on the provision of support and information to vulnerable groups of migrants. This includes psychosocial support for migrants, diaspora, and frontline workers, but also activities that reduce vulnerability and strengthen the capacities of migrants, diaspora and people with a migration background, as well as their access to information on their fundamental rights, for example, through awareness raising campaigns or community-based activities. By supporting these activities under the Incentive Fund, CONEX aims to strengthen the capacity of organizations to support and inform migrants.

Six organisations have been selected for the 2024 Incentive Fund: Oasis Belgium, CAW Zuid-West Vlaanderen, NADOE, BE Kitchen&Sudan Action Group, Alefa and La Maison de La Culture Albanaise. Click on the organisations to discover how they contribute to the protection of migrants in Belgium. Congratulations to the selected organisations and we look forward to collaborating in 2024!

If you would like to be part of the Conex network or would like to be kept informed through our newsletter, please send an e-mail to jdeleye@iom.int and/or subscribe to the newsletter HERE.