The ILO and IGAD have strengthened the practical skills of journalists across the IGAD region to report on labour migration, free movement of people and regional integration more accurately, using evidence to challenge misinformation, and bringing migrant workers' voices and rights into the story.
Held from 24 to 26 August 2026, the three-day regional training in Entebbe brought together 27 media and communication professionals, including nine women and 18 men, from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. Participants represented print, radio, television, online and digital media, journalists' associations and government communication institutions.
Participants deepened their understanding of the IGAD Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, including its objectives, key provisions and processes of ratification, domestication and implementation. Discussions connected free movement with employment, decent work, labour migration, cross-border trade, development and regional cooperation, while examining how media narratives can influence public understanding of these issues.
The programme also examined migrant workers' rights and decent work, fair recruitment, access to justice, labour market evidence and practical approaches to reporting the opportunities and challenges associated with regional mobility.
© ILO/Homa M Ejeta
A specialised session led by SCP Fred Enanga, Deputy Director in charge of INTERPOL and International Relations at the Uganda Police Force, focused on the distinctions between lawful movement, irregular migration, migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons. Participants discussed fraudulent recruitment, document and identity fraud, the criminal use of digital platforms, victim protection and cross-border information sharing. The session reinforced an important reporting principle: efforts to combat criminal exploitation should not result in the criminalisation of legitimate migration.
© ILO/Homa M Ejeta
"Behind every policy, protocol and statistic are real people whose lives are affected by the ability to move, work, study, trade and connect across borders," said Ephrem Getnet, Chief Technical Advisor of the Free Movement of Persons and Transhumance in the IGAD Region project, speaking at the opening of the training on behalf of the ILO.
He encouraged journalists to bring these experiences to life accurately, fairly and responsibly, and to ensure that the voices and experiences of ordinary people remain at the centre of reporting on regional integration.
Lucy Daxbacher, Senior Programme Coordinator representing the IGAD Secretariat, underscored the importance of public understanding in turning regional mobility frameworks into real change.
"Policies drafted in conference halls only take root when they earn legitimacy in our communities," she said. She stressed that media professionals are not simply channels for information, but key actors in shaping public understanding of free movement, labour migration and regional integration.
"Tell the human stories behind regional integration, and tell them with courage, accuracy, and dignity," Daxbacher urged participants.
© ILO/Homa M Ejeta
Participants echoed these concerns throughout the training, reflecting on the gaps they see in current labour migration coverage. Their perspectives highlighted the need for reporting that is more human-centred, evidence-based and grounded in the everyday realities of migrant workers.
Bringing migrant workers into the story
For Teresa Mutai, a journalist from Kenya, one of the gaps in current media coverage is the limited attention given to the everyday realities of migrant workers. "The story that is missing from migrant workers is their everyday life. What are their conditions? Their living conditions? What are their wages?" she said.
Mutai also called for a shift in how migrant workers are portrayed. "Stop victimizing them and showing them as criminals. Humanize the story. These are real people in their real day jobs going about their lives," she said.
Her reflections captured one of the key messages of the training: labour migration reporting should go beyond statistics and policy announcements and examine the lived experiences of workers. This includes their working and living conditions, wages, opportunities, rights and the challenges they face.
Taking policy stories to the grassroots
For Mol Mapal Mayan, a journalist from South Sudan, media coverage too often remains focused on governments and policies without examining how those decisions affect migrant workers themselves.
"Most of our stories focus only on the policies and the governments, but our reporting does not go down to the migrants themselves. How does it affect them and how does it benefit them?" Mayan said.
He stressed the role regional media can play in making information about free movement and labour migration understandable and accessible to communities.
Regional media, he said, should prioritize ensuring that information about the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and labour migration policies reaches people at the grassroots level.
This is particularly relevant as IGAD Member States continue efforts towards the ratification, domestication and implementation of the IGAD Protocol on Free Movement of Persons. Adopted in 2021, the Protocol provides a regional framework for mobility and seeks to expand opportunities for employment, trade, investment and skills exchange while strengthening the protection of the rights of people moving across the region.
© ILO/Homa M Ejeta
Challenging myths with evidence
The training also examined common narratives surrounding labour migration and free movement, including misconceptions that can contribute to misinformation and negative stereotypes about migrant workers.
Participants explored how reliable labour market information and evidence can help journalists interrogate these narratives and provide audiences with a fuller picture of labour migration and its relationship with employment, economic development and regional integration.
The sessions encouraged journalists to distinguish between migration and criminal exploitation, use accurate terminology, verify information and protect the dignity of people affected by trafficking and smuggling. Journalists were also encouraged to seek perspectives from workers, employers, governments and other actors in the world of work.
By broadening the range of voices represented in their reporting, journalists can move beyond simplified narratives and contribute to more informed public debate.
From the training room to the newsroom
The training combined technical sessions with practical media exercises, including story development, interviewing and pitching. Through case studies, group work and presentations, participants developed story ideas on free movement, labour migration, trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling and regional integration.
Participants also examined Uganda's migration policy experience as a case study and exchanged experiences from their respective countries, including opportunities for stronger cross-border collaboration among journalists covering migration, mobility and regional integration.
For Mayan, the training provided knowledge he expects to apply directly in his reporting.
"I have learned a lot in this media training, especially on the free movement protocol and the migration policy," he said. "I believe all this will help me in my journalistic reporting in the near future, especially in the area of migration."
The learning will continue beyond Entebbe. Trainees will join the IGAD Regional Journalists' Platform on Migration and Labour Migration Governance, which provides a space for peer learning, information exchange, cross-border collaboration and coordinated public awareness on free movement, labour migration, migration governance and regional integration.
Participants left Entebbe with new story ideas, stronger regional connections and a renewed focus on reporting labour migration in ways that are accurate, fair and grounded in the experiences of workers.
The regional media training was jointly organized by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) under the Free Movement of Persons and Transhumance in the IGAD Region project, funded by the European Union.
Through the project, the ILO and its partners are supporting efforts to strengthen labour migration governance and advance safe and rights-based mobility in the IGAD region.
