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From Saturday, April 28th to Tuesday, May 7th, a mission of the Italian communication agency, Giusti Eventi stayed in Mali. Including Elena Elia and Paolo Saglia, the mission led, with the national NGO “Le Tonus“, three forums in the Kati circle on the fight against illegal immigration.
These forums were held in Kati (urban commune), Yelekebougou (rural commune of Kati circle) and Kambila (rural commune of Kati circle). They brought together participants from the communes mentioned above. These are former returning migrants, young people who want to emigrate and people who have no desire to leave Mali. These forums were animated in French and in Bamanan language. They recorded exercises on “Imaginary and Real” with questionnaires of sociometry. The objective is to know the real desire of each participant to create a communication campaign against illegal immigration.

These forums highlighted the dangerous nature of illegal immigration and the need to put an end to it by changing behavior. Returning immigrants had the opportunity, during the work of the forums, to explain to the audience their various misadventures by undertaking the land route (desert band of the Sahara and the Mediterranean on board especially the inflatable boats) for to go to Europe. They claimed to have lived and shared the plight of many candidates for immigration (people who died in the crossing of the Sahara and the Mediterranean, imprisonment, torture, racist practices …).

The exchanges between the facilitators and the participants made it possible to establish axes, which allowed Giusti Eventi and the AwArtMali project to draw a lot of lessons that could help them to elaborate a good strategy of campaign of communication against irregular immigration.

The missionaries took advantage of their stay to visit the families of some migrants, who decided to return, voluntarily, to Mali. An emotional moment that allowed Elena and Paolo to better immerse themselves in the family life of these people, who have not lost their spirits and who lead in Mali a life of peaceful head of family engaged in their daily activities .

Elena and Paolo also took advantage of their presence in Mali to meet officials of Radio Bèlèkan de Kati, local artists and leaders of the Malian Association of Expelled (AME). The discussions focused on the strategy for creating the communication campaign against illegal immigration. All interlocutors met expressed their willingness to support the AwArtMali project in achieving its objectives.

Recall that the AwArtMali project is a joint action between partners from Italy, Spain and Cyprus, with the assistance of their Malian partner, ” Le Tonus ” to help change perceptions and behavior Malian citizens, who see irregular immigration to the EU as the only solution to their economic and social problems. The project aims to inform Malians about the risks of irregular migration and possible legal alternatives to migration.