Routes-Based Programming for Children and Youth on the Move: A Look at the East African Migration Routes Project Phase 1 (2025)

The East African Migration Routes Project’s First Implementation Phase, which ran from 1 April 2021 to 31 January 2025, has been part of a 10-year initiative conceived, funded, and supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) with the overall goal that ‘countries along the East African Migration Routes develop policies and adequate organisational capacities to ensure protection and enable self-reliance of children and youth in vulnerable displacement situations.’ The project phase has been successfully implemented in Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and at the regional level.

Having concluded its first phase successfully, delivering despite the challenging context, the EAMR Project is also an example of a routes-based project, providing valuable lessons in terms of the design and implementation along a route, across direct service delivery, systems strengthening, and policy engagement.

This final project report provides a comprehensive summary of the Implementation Phase 1, showing the project’s approach, achievements, and the changes or adaptations that enabled these achievements throughout the 46-month period.

The EAMR Project is currently in its Implementation Phase 2: a continuation of the previous phase, with a deliberate effort to build on the accomplishments showcased in this report, working towards long term sustainable change for children and youth on the move along the migration corridors between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.