COVID-19 - Flow Monitoring Registry: Mobility Trends – January - June 2020 – West & Central Africa (15 July 2020)
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- IOM
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Introduction and Methodology:
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected mobility in West and Central Africa in the form of various travel disruptions, restrictions and bans, which often leave migrants stranded. This report provides key information on the magnitude and types of changes to mobility observed in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.
The Flow Monitoring Registry (FMR) is a tool of IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) which records movements crossing areas of high-density mobility (areas of departure, transit and destination). FMR gathers data on the numbers and profiles of travellers crossing these strategic transit points. To better understand the ways and the extent to which the COVID-19 crisis is impacting mobility in the region, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been working to analyse Flow Monitoring data collected at key transit points in West and Central Africa between January to June 2020 (using 2018 and 2019 data as barometers of comparison). Due to mobility restrictions and the pandemic spread, FMPs in Burkina Faso, Guinea and Senegal have been put on hold. This report focuses on Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria data only as these FMPs were open in June 2020 and compared with 2019 data for these countries.
Volume of flows: The volume of travellers registered across the West and Central Africa region witnessed a 6 per cent decrease between 2019 and 2020 (Month of June) in Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. Chart I. illustrates the drop in daily flows observed at FMPs in Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria against a daily average taken from daily flows in March and June 2019 and shows a sharp decrease of flows on March 21st. However, compared with April 2020, flows in May and June have sharply increased (+65% from April to May 2020 and +29% from May to June 2020, chart II.)
Weekly flows: A weekly analysis (chart II) of registered movements shows a striking acceleration in the decrease in flows over the second half of the month of March: between Week 12 and Week 13, the number of travellers observed weekly dropped by 69 per cent. This coincides with the period during which countries in the region started imposing travel bans and enacting border closure measures. From Week 13 to Week 18 (March, April), the number of individuals observed at Flow Monitoring Points in stabilizes. From Week 19 to 22, the number of individuals observed at FMP have consistently risen and from Week 23 to 26, weekly flows stabilize again.
Types of flows: Cross-border movements and internal movements (chart III) observed have been heavenly affected by the COVID-19 mobility restriction measures. Data collection in April and June 2020 show a rapid resurgence in internal flows (+153% between April and May 2020 and +33% between May and June 2020) while cross-border movements increased only slightly over the same period (+28%, +25%). This may be due to the fact that international borders remained shut in June, while restrictions to internal mobility were progressively lifted.