Between 1 April to 30 June 2020, DTM Ethiopia surveyed a total of 907 migrants across 5 Flow Monitoring Points (FMPs). These FMPs are located in Humera, Metema, Galafi, Dawale and Tog Wochale. For the first time in 27 months of flow monitoring activities, incoming movements were higher than outgoing movements for April and May 2020, as many Ethiopians traveled back to Ethiopia due to CoVID-19 related reasons such as loss of jobs and deportation following strict measures to curb the pandemic in host countries. For instance, a total of 253 migrants surveyed reported intending to travel from Sudan to Ethiopia whereby an overwhelming majority (97%) were Ethiopian nationals.
Furthermore, returning to one’s home country was the primary reason for traveling as cited by 469 respondents (53%) for the first time, as opposed to traveling for job opportunities which had been the main reason for traveling in previous rounds. Prior to this, outgoing movements would outnumber incoming movements, with the largest group of migrants intending to head to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for job opportunities.
