Strengthening Conditions for Repatriation SCORE
Understanding what makes reintegration sustainable - so support doesn't run out when people return home.
This project is ongoing. Phase 2 research is under way.
"If we are still measuring reintegration by the assistance we deliver rather than the stability we produce a year later, we have not yet built the architecture sustainable reintegration requires."
IOM Representative, Somalia workshop, Nairobi
Challenge & Approach
For people living far from home, the decision to return is rarely simple but it should always be an informed one. Voluntary repatriation can mean reuniting with family, rebuilding a life in familiar surroundings, or seizing new opportunities created by a changing situation at home. Yet the moment of return is also, too often, the moment support runs out. SCORE: Strengthening Conditions for Repatriation, funded by the Swedish Migration Agency (SMA), is Seefar's response to that gap: a research project designed to understand what makes reintegration genuinely sustainable.
The Challenge
Across Europe, governments fund voluntary repatriation through financial packages, travel assistance, and reintegration grants - both to manage migration pressures and because facilitating dignified return is widely seen as a practical and ethical obligation. Sweden has gone further than most: under its new global strategy on migration and development, SMA is substantially increasing per-person repatriation support, aiming to make returns not just financially supported, but sustainable. Far less attention has historically been paid to what happens after arrival - whether people reintegrate, what supports them to do so, and what causes even well-resourced returns to unravel.
Our Approach
To respond to these challenges, SMA commissioned Seefar to design and deliver SCORE - a phased programme of research, stakeholder engagement, and piloting across six focus countries.
How the Project Worked
Phase 1 - Country Mapping
More than 13 countries were screened against governance conditions, economic stability, diaspora dynamics, and partnership potential, narrowing to six focus countries for deeper engagement: Somalia, Iraq (including KRI), Ethiopia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, and Syria.
Phase 2 - Qualitative Research
In-depth interviews, focus groups, and key informant consultations documented the lived experiences of repatriates across all six focus countries, alongside multi-stakeholder workshops convening governments, civil society, international organisations, and diaspora networks to co-develop reintegration strategies.
What the Research Reveals: Drivers, Decisions, and Reintegration
The centrepiece of Phase 2 is a research study - The Repatriation Journey - engaging 329 participants - including 66 repatriates who returned from Europe between 2018 and 2024 - across five countries and six contexts (Iraq counted twice for the Kurdistan Region and federal Iraq). It is the most comprehensive study of its kind commissioned by SMA to date.
Repatriation decisions are rarely driven by a single factor. Economic hardship, insecure residency status, and social exclusion in Europe often act as push factors; while caregiving responsibilities and concerns over children's cultural identity serve as equally powerful pulls. Gender, education, and household power dynamics shape who returns, and when: women more often cite caregiving, men more often cite hardship or disappointment abroad; higher education correlates with planned, forward-looking returns, while limited schooling correlates with reactive returns. A smaller group returns due to positive developments at home - improved security, new opportunities, political reform - pointing to potential for programmes that leverage moments of stability rather than only managing distress.
Most repatriates receive no pre-departure assistance, commonly because they're unaware it exists, or decline it out of distrust or a preference for self-reliance. Effective reintegration requires individual assessment, tailored planning, and phased support well beyond the initial financial package; one-size-fits-all approaches consistently underperform. Social stigma toward returnees remains a persistent barrier, making community-level reconciliation a precondition for durable outcomes.
Voices from the Field
Stockholm, January 2026 - Seefar and SMA presented The Repatriation Journey findings to immigration officials from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Norway and Sweden; 38 registered attendees.
Nairobi, March 2026 - A two-day national workshop on Somalia's repatriation and reintegration landscape. Day one convened the Somali federal government (Ministry of Interior, Office of the Prime Minister, National Commission for Refugees and IDPs) and the Swedish Embassy; day two engaged civil society, reintegration practitioners, IOM, UNHCR, and DRC. 58 participants contributed recommendations.
"If we are not simultaneously addressing the conditions and pressures that drive irregular migration, we will remain better at responding to it than reducing the factors that sustain it."
IOM Representative, Somalia workshop
"Sustainable economic reintegration requires long-term, market-driven, and individualized support that aligns returnees' capacities with real economic opportunities while managing expectations and strengthening local systems."
KAALO Aid and Development, local NGO, Somalia workshop
"We need counsellors based in-country as an integral part of the repatriation process, to give potential returnees a realistic picture of what to expect before departure, not after arrival."
Somali NGO Consortium Representative, Somalia workshop
Addis Ababa, May 2025 - A stakeholder workshop convening key actors in Ethiopia's repatriation and reintegration landscape.
"Sustainable economic reintegration of returnees requires an integrated support package: economic, social, and psychosocial, delivered through continuous programming with strong local ownership, community participation, and private sector engagement."
Member of Caritas Ethiopia (ECC-SDCO), panel discussion
"Repatriates bring skills that can transfer and improve efficiencies across different industries. That potential needs to be recognised and channelled deliberately."
Workshop participant
Key Achievements
13
countries screened in Phase 1 to identify focus countries
329
participants engaged in The Repatriation Journey study, including 66 repatriates who returned from Europe between 2018 and 2024
6
European governments reached through the January 2026 Stockholm policy webinar (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden)
58
stakeholders convened at the Somalia workshop in Nairobi, including federal government ministries, the Swedish Embassy, IOM, UNHCR, and local civil society
6
focus countries in active Phase 2 research — Somalia, Iraq, Ethiopia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, and Syria
Looking Ahead: What SCORE Is Building Towards
By the end of 2026, SCORE aims to deliver a complete evidence base across six countries, and actionable recommendations for SMA and partner governments to carry into the next phase of Europe's repatriation policy landscape. The findings so far challenge a one-size-fits-all model of return: sustainable reintegration depends on individualised, phased support and community-level buy-in — not just a financial package handed over at the point of departure.