Reintegration experiences of internal return migrants resident in the Wa Municipality, Ghana

Elijah Yendaw, University for Development Studies (UDS)
Augustine Tanle, University of Cape Coast

In Ghana, studies on returnees’ reintegration are mostly limited to international return migrants from western countries. This paper therefore explores the reintegration experiences of internal return migrants from the southern part of Ghana resident in the Wa municipality. Using the mixed method approach to research, 150 return migrants were surveyed while 10 key informants were also interviewed. The results indicate that the main reintegration difficulty encountered among returnees was frequent family demands. To mitigate these problems, some of the returnees had to relocate completely from their family houses while others engaged in petty trading to satisfy basic needs. The chi-square statistic test results indicate a significant association between returnees’ length of stay, age, education and marital status vis-a-vis challenges faced in reintegration. The study recommends that government and other relevant stakeholders should develop strategies to assist return migrants to reintegrate favourably into their communities in order to avoid future out-migrations.