Dar Es Salaam – Regional Director (RD), Mr Charles Kwenin and Policy and Liaison Officer, Ms Naomi Shiferaw from the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM’s) Regional Office (RO) for Southern Africa (Pretoria) conducted a scoping mission on Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa (MIDSA) to the United Republic of Tanzania from 10 to 12 February 2020.

The major objective of their mission was to initiate discussions with Key Government officials on the organization of the MIDSA technical meeting in the United Republic of Tanzania as it is the current chair of Regional Economic Community (REC) for the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) which is composed of 15 countries from the southern region of Africa.

The United Republic of Tanzania is so far the only country in the SADC REC which is also a member of the East African Community (EAC) and that it is hosting its Head Quarters (HQ) located in the city of Arusha.

During their visit, they were accompanied by the IOM Chief of Mission (CoM) to the United Republic of Tanzania, Dr Qasim Sufi.

They visited Dodoma and Dar Es Salaam and met with:

1. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Mr Christopher Kadio in Dodoma;
2. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East Africa Cooperation, Mr Ambassador Colonel Wilbert Ibuge in Dar Es Salaam;
3. The Acting Director of Multilateral Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East Africa Cooperation, Mr Director Kaganda in Dodoma and
4. The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator (RC), Mr Zlatan Milisic in Dar Es Salaam.

Expected outcomes from the initial meeting between IOM and the Government of Tanzania are:

1. nomination of a Focal Point by the Government of Tanzania for the MIDSA technical meeting,
2. formation of Inter-ministerial Task Force for the MIDSA meeting;
3. proposition of a “Theme” for the MIDSA technical meeting and
4. identification of meeting location in the United Republic of Tanzania. 

IOM as the Secretariat for MIDSA will provide technical support to the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania in the organizational process of the meeting that is expected to take place prior to the end of Tanzania’s Chairmanship period by the end of August 2020.

The initial meeting between IOM and the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania on the organization of MIDSA technical meeting will be followed by further meetings between the two as deemed necessary.

For more information, please contact:

Dr Qasim Sufi, IOM Chief of Mission to the United Republic of Tanzania at qsufi@iom.int or tel. +255 682 563 796 or

Ms. Naomi Shiferaw, Policy and Liaison Officer in IOM RO Pretoria at nshiferaw@iom.int or tel. +27 63 699 2738