The International Center for Human Development (ICHD), in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and with financial support of the EU, continues the implementation of the "Strengthening Evidence-Based Management of Labor Migration in Armenia" project (www.ulisses.am).

In order to facilitate the discussion on the challenges and opportunities for the development of effective and reliable mechanisms for supporting the migrants and their families on their social, legal and awareness issues, strengthening the link with their home country; as well as the issues related to engaging civil society institutions in practical cooperation for assistance to migrants on the agenda of intercommunity cooperation (case of cooperation with Community of Nardo, Italy), three-day trip from 16-19 November, 2013 to Nardo, Italy was organized in the scopes of the project. Deputy mayors of Ashtarak and Gyumri, Head of the Department of Territorial Administration and Development, RA MTA, President of the "Armavir Development Center" NGO and the executive director of ICHD were part of the Delegation.

The Delegation participated in a number of meetings with representatives of state institutions, civil society of Puglia on Armenia-Italy circular migration, as well as issues, that migrants might face and possible assistance they might need. During the meetings it was agreed to upgrade the cooperation processes between Nardo and Gyumri started in 2009, with the special focus on the support to the migrants, their social rights, improvement of information exchange on the opportunities of repatriation, guarantee the communication in cases of emergency with the community directly, as well as possibility of direct engagement of the civil society and international stakeholders into the processes.