MigraCidades: Enhancing Local Migration Governance in Brazil

MigraCidades aligns training and certification processes to enhance migration policy at the local level. The project begun in 2019 with a study to develop a set of 10 dimensions of migration governance, as well as indicators for each of them, building from the experience of the global IOM’s Migration Governance Indicators (MGI). IOM engaged 13 local governments in this phase. Following this, the content for an online training was developed in partnership with the National School of Public Administration (Enap). More than 900 people already completed the training available at ENAP’s virtual school. To promote the certification process IOM liaised with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). UFRGS managed the collection and processing of data for the certification process. As part of the sustainability strategy UFRGS allocated dedicate scholarships for undergrad students to work with MigraCidades. The certification process includes five steps: 1) Application; 2) Diagnosis; 3) Prioritization; 4) Certification; and 5) Monitoring. An open call selected 27 local governments for the project first edition. Each government appointed a focal point responsible to lead the process locally. After successfully completing the diagnosis and prioritization process and participating in the mandatory training, the government receives the annual MigraCidades seal to acknowledge its efforts to improve migration policies. Finally, the government receives support with monitoring tools and reports on the challenges and achievements related to priority actions in the last phase of the cycle. MigraCidades was developed with the support of a seed funding of USD 200,000 from IOM Development Fund, and implemented by IOM staff, consultants, and several professionals from UFRGS and ENAP.