International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Q1. How have the COVID-19 pandemic and the current food, energy and financing crises changed the priorities of your organization?
As outlined in IOM’s World Migration Report 2022, the pandemic reversed hard-won development gains and altered human mobility dynamics around the world, with continued disruptions to travel and mobility from ongoing border restrictions and increased displacement as just two examples among many. Concomitantly, the global climate crisis unfolding in plain sight and climate-related disaster events led to record number of displacement. The war that followed the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation in February has triggered the largest human mobility crisis the European continent has experienced since World War II, and the acute development impacts of a protracted war (as they relate to food, energy and finance amongst other aspects) are becoming more and more apparent both within and beyond the European continent, and could influence human mobility dynamics and trends in varied ways in the years to come. This context also underlines the need for comprehensive solutions to protracted and emerging crises that span across the humanitarian, development, and peace dimensions.
At the same time, migrants’ important contributions to the COVID-19 pandemic response and recovery – which have been rightly recognized and celebrated in many countries – are a reminder of the positive role of migration for sustainable development. In the context of the holding of the first International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) in May 2022 that took stock of the status of implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), and reaffirmed the GCM as the prominent, cooperative framework for the governance of international migration, IOM focused through the year and in and an uncertain and changing global landscape on supporting the international community and Member States to reinforce the role of the GCM and the power of multilateralism to leverage migration for accelerating response and recovery efforts and keep the achievement of the SDGs in sight.
In practice, this means understanding migration and displacement in the broader context of the 'big three’ major global transformations — geopolitical, environmental and technological – and of challenges to the social contract – such as inadequate health systems; gaps in social protection; structural inequalities rooted in racism, discrimination and xenophobia – and reinforcing the role of migration to build stronger, prosperous, peaceful and more equal communities, thereby ensuring that the future of human mobility is embedded in multilateral and national frameworks for the years to come. Through 2022, IOM has continued – in close coordination with Governments, other United Nations agencies, the private sector, communities, implementing partners, and migrants themselves – to work tirelessly to support recovery from the pandemic through direct assistance and programming for migrants, displaced populations, and the communities they live in, as well as provide technical advice to advance integrated approaches for sustainable development and good migration governance. At the same time, IOM continued to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to migrants, IDPs and host communities affected by crises, within Ukraine and in the neighboring countries, and in countries whose precarious situations were still exacerbated by COVID-19 and other disasters: in Syria, Yemen and the Sahel region, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and many more locations.
Throughout 2022, the Organization demonstrated its adaptability and agility, working hand in hand with national authorities and the United Nations system, building strong partnerships and facilitating effective coordination at all levels.
Q2. How has your organization supported Member States to accelerate their recovery from COVID-19 and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda? How has your organization cooperated with other UN system organizations in these efforts to achieve coherence and synergies?
To account for the increase in mobility post- COVID-19 travel restrictions, in 2022, till date, IOM has provided > 770,000 health assessments (and counting), across four regions: Africa, Asia, Europe and Central Asia and MENA, for both refugees and immigrants, managing to continue much needed services even in situations of conflict or health emergencies.
To ensure vaccination access for migrants and hard-to-reach populations, in April 2022, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and IOM finalized a funding agreement template that will enable IOM, as a compliant and trusted partner to receive direct funding allocation (including through the new Equity Accelerator Funding). This strengthens the capacity of IOM Missions to support member states in the implementation of vaccination grants that promote access to Covid-19 and other essential vaccines for migrants and vulnerable populations, mainly at borders/points of entry and along the mobility continuum. IOM is now engaged with national stakeholders as well as other partners including the World Bank and Gates Foundation in programme discussions in several regions, with ongoing implementation in Chad, DRC, and South Sudan, and ongoing proposal developments in Afghanistan, Cameroon, CAR, Ghana, Pakistan, and Somalia.
In terms of promoting the mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) for migrants, IOM – as a partner within the IASC MHPSS coordination, has been providing mental health and psychosocial support services in Ukraine and in the neighboring countries of Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Poland, and the Slovak Republic, in several languages (Ukrainian, Russian, Bengali, English) to also support affected Third Country Nationals (TCNs). More than 660 persons have also been trained till date in the region, and the IOM Manual on Community-based MHPSS in Emergencies and Displacement has been translated to Ukrainian, Slovakian, Polish and Hungarian. In Ukraine, the work of the MHPSS hotline staffed with professionals from Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora, is complemented by psychologists as part of Mobile Emergency Health Teams, as well as the deployment of dedicated Psychosocial Mobile Teams in the east of the country. In Ukraine, IOM contributes to the First Lady’s Initiative for a National Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Program and chairs the IASC MHPSS working group for the East of Ukraine.
In response to the ongoing outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease, IOM has allocated internal rapid response funds to our Mission in Uganda (Nov2022-April2023) to support the response in partnership with WHO and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network. IOM’s work will include a focus on population mobility mapping exercises that can inform the response at key locations at risk in Mubende, the epicentre of the outbreak, and other affected districts. In coordination with the Ministry of Health, IOM Uganda recently concluded an assessment at the Entebbe International Airport (October 2022) and implemented trainings for health and non-health personnel based on the findings, in line with the International Health Regulations (2005).
Please highlight up to three high-impact initiatives, especially those that address interlinkages among the SDGs and involves interagency collaboration. Concrete initiatives might be selected to be spotlighted during relevant intergovernmental meetings.
| Initiative | UNGA side event on Promoting the health of refugees and migrants: are we in the right path to evidence‐informed policy making? |
| Partners | WHO, Luxembourg, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the UN Foundation, the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the UN in New York, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees |
| Relevant SDGs | 3, 10 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | All Member States interested in engaging on the topic. |
| Description | To secure political engagement on robust evidence for refugee and migrant health, a high-level event was held on 20 September 2022 in New York, to which IOM provided opening remarks. The event gathered governments, international organizations, academia, and civil society organizations to take stock of the progress made globally, and to inform the way forward. The event allowed presenting of key findings from the newly launched first World Report on the health of refugees and migrants, which provides a global baseline or state of affairs on the health of refugees and migrants worldwide; galvanize action to advance political multilateral commitments on refugee and migrant health and other relevant policy developments. A press release of the event can be accessed here. |
| Website | https://www.who.int/news/item/21-09-2022-refugee-and-migrant-health-at-… |
| Initiative | Global IOM-UNDP Joint Programme on Making Migration Work for Sustainable Development (Phase III) (M4SD) |
| Partners | IOM and UNDP-led, SDC-funded. Partners vary by country and include national and local governments, diaspora, private sector, local implementing partners and civil society organizations |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 17 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | Bangladesh, Ecuador, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nepal, Philippines, Republic of Moldova, Senegal, Serbia, Tunisia |
| Description | M4SD aims to harness the development benefits and reduce the negative effects of migration for host and home communities, migrants and their family members. To achieve this, the initiative supports national and local governments to integrate migration considerations into key policy areas or design new policies that aim to ensure inclusion for all, with a focus on four priority sectors: employment, education, health and human rights and social security. Activities range from ensuring access to health services for 700+ regular and irregular migrants in Morocco (SDG 3, 10), supporting 100+ small businesses to grow and thrive in Ecuador (SDG 1, 8, 10), piloting a tool to measure the economic contributions of diaspora beyond remittances in Moldova (SDG 10, 17) and providing technical training, skilling and direct pathways to employment in local businesses for 350+ youth and Roma in Serbia (SDG 1, 8, 10, 17). The Programme has been conceptualised to support socio-economic recovery from COVID-19 based on a review of the impact of COVID-19 and in line with government priorities on the same. For example, in Nepal, 130+ migrants who returned during and after COVID-19, their neighbors and families of migrants remaining abroad, have been supported with (self)-employment opportunities, contributing to sustainable reintegration and strengthened labour markets and local businesses (SDG 1, 8, 10, 17). The Programme’s results are aligned to the indicators and targets of the 2030 Agenda, illustrating how good migration governance can accelerate progress on the SDGs. The Programme also has a strong local approach, recognising that it is at the community level where the impact of migration is most strongly felt and the key role of local and regional authorities as first responders to migration. The Programme applies a whole-of-society approach, working to support entire communities and inclusive of civil society, private sector migrants’ associations and diaspora. The experience, results and lessons learnt are also shared within the Programme through knowledge exchange and capacity development actions and globally through international fora and dialogues, helping to further global understanding. In the remaining year of the Programme, sustainability of results will be ensured via handover plans and capacity building efforts with national and local authorities, so they can continue to progress, and knowledge and lessons learned will be consolidated so other countries and UN Agencies can upscale and implement similar programming. |
| Website | https://migration4development.org/en/about/our-programmes |
Q3. Has your organization published or is it planning to publish any analytical work or guidance note or toolkits to guide and support recovery efforts from COVID-19 while advancing full implementation of SDGs at national, regional and global levels?
yes
Please select up to three high-impact resources to highlight, especially those that address interlinkages among the SDGs. Selected resources will be highlighted to inform relevant intergovernmental meetings.
| Resource | IOM Manual on Community-based MHPSS in Emergencies and Displacement |
| Publishing entity/entities | IOM |
| Relevant SDGs | 3, 10 |
| Target audience | It is specifically designed to support managers and experts hired by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) |
| Description | The Manual aims to facilitate mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) experts and managers in designing, implementing and evaluating community-based MHPSS (CB MHPSS) programmes, projects and activities for emergency-affected and displaced populations in humanitarian settings. |
| Website | https://www.iom.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl486/files/mhpss/second-edition-… |
| Language | English |
| Resource | Ensuring migrants’ equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines |
| Publishing entity/entities | IOM |
| Relevant SDGs | 3, 10 |
| Description | As of 30 June 2022, of the 180 countries that IOM offices provided data on, 162 (90%) reported that migrants in regular situations have access to COVID-19 vaccines in practice when 102 (57%) reported that migrants in irregular situations have access. Lack of targeted deployment strategies and efficient provision of operational support, especially at subnational level, are the main limiting factors for the inclusion of migrants in practice. In practice, 7 countries (+7% increment) expanded access of COVID-19 vaccination to migrants in irregular situation between March and June 2022, while no changes were observed for migrants in regular situations. Continuous advocacy, support and engagement at policy and operational level remain crucial to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines across the general population and special/priority populations, irrespective of their legal status or country of origin. |
| Website | https://www.iom.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl486/files/documents/iom-vaccine…; https://www.iom.int/ensuring-migrants-equitable-access-covid-19-vaccines |
| Language | English |
| Resource | Promising practices in the provision of essential services to migrants |
| Publishing entity/entities | UN Network on Migration |
| Relevant SDGs | 3, 8, 10 |
| Target audience | Policy practitioners |
| Description | The document has been developed by the Working Group on “Access to Services”, a group co-led by WHO and UN Habitat that includes several United Nations Agencies and civil society organizations. This working group was convened in 2019 and 2020 as part of the UN Migration Network (UNMN) that supports the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration1 (GCM) , endorsed by UN Member States in 2018. The document provides practical examples on how migrants are included in the provision of services in the field of health, housing, education, vocational training, and basic public services such as water and sanitation. A dedicated section of the report, also includes examples of multi-sector migrant services in the context of the pandemic of COVID-19. |
| Website | https://migrationnetwork.un.org/sites/g/files/tmzbdl416/files/docs/prov… |
| Language | English |
Q4. How has your organization engaged with stakeholder groups to support SDG implementation and COVID-19 recovery at national, regional and global levels? Please provide main highlights, including any lessons learned. For example, what has worked particularly well as a model for effective stakeholder engagement?
IOM has engaged strategically with relevant partners to strengthen collaboration on support to Member States in progressing on the achievement of the SDGs, empowering local and regional actors to implement policies making migration work for all, and to keep raising awareness on innovative solutions and programmes, eg tailored to the interests and skills of diaspora members to enhance their contribution to the development of their country of origin.
If your organization has established multi-stakeholder partnership(s) in this regard, please describe them (name, partners involved, relevant SDGs, Member States benefiting from the partnership) and provide links to relevant websites for more information.
| Partnership | IOM – UNDP Joint Regional Dialogues |
| Partners | UNDP |
| Relevant SDGs | All |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | Countries covered by IOM Regional Offices and UNDP regional hub in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, West and Central Africa, Eastern and Horn of Africa |
| Description | Building on an agreement (Joint Letter from the IOM and UNDP Principals) in 2020 to strengthen partnership and collaboration, in 2020 IOM and UNDP, IOM and UNDP held 4 joint regional dialogues. These present an unique forum to have an overview of prevalent themes on migration and development in a given region, including trends observed in UNSDCFs/UNCT and cross-border engagement; to take stock of and exchange experiences on collaboration in different thematic areas to-date, reflecting on what works well and what could be improved; to scope strategic entry points for new or expanded IOM-UNDP collaboration in the region and specific sub-regions/situations, with a particular focus on a limited but promising set of joint programming areas; and to agree on follow-up steps that can be initiated in the region on the scoped entry points for new or expanded IOM-UNDP collaboration in the region. |
| Partnership | Mayors Mechanism |
| Partners | IOM, United Cities and Local Governments, Mayors Migration Council |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | Global/All |
| Description | )United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the Mayors Migration Council (MMC), and the UN Migration Agency (IOM) co-lead the Mayors Mechanism (MM) with the aim to empower local and regional governments (LRGs) to catalyze smarter, bolder action to make migration work for all. The partnership is now scaling its proven model to other State-led migration and forced displacement fora, including the Global Compact for Migration and Global Compact on Refugees implementation, follow up and review. At the first ever International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) to review the GCM in 2022, local governments delivered the second largest number of pledges to advance the GCM (after Member States), successfully influenced the IMRF Progress Declaration, and were welcomed as speakers across the official UN programme, contributing directly alongside national governments, civil society and UN agencies (see thematic IMRF Position Papers). The Mayors Mechanism’s delegation to the IMRF marked a historic advancement for local governments. The MM launched a Call to Local Action for Migrants and Refugees in partnership with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and supported by additional affiliated partners and city networks. In its first year, the Call to Local Action delivered 70 locally led actions to the UN that make a tangible difference to the lives of migrants and refugees. The IMRF Progress Declaration adopted by the UN General Assembly recognises the role of LRGs and local leadership, particularly on migrant health in response to COVID-19. Additionally, the three partners involved have also maximized the partnership to support other initiatives by each partner. For example, a) IOM and UCLG supported the Mayors Migration Council Global Cities Fund for Inclusive Pandemic Response, an initiative to respond to the unmet needs of cities as they support migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people (IDPs) during COVID-19. A second fund was released in 2022 to support city-led climate and migration action. Additionally, b) an e-course on the local governance of migration was developed by UCLG in partnership with the Mayors Mechanism, the Mediterranean City to City Migration (MC2CM) project, UNHCR, ICMPD and UN-Habitat for an audience of LRGs and other relevant stakeholders and will be released in early January. |
| Website | https://www.mayorsmechanism.org and http://localaction.mayorsmechanism.org/ |
| Partnership | Global Diaspora Summit |
| Partners | governments, diaspora organizations, private sector, academia |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs 10,16,17 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | Countries and organizations that have supported the Dublin Declaration: African Union, Armenia, Bangladesh, Cabo Verde, Colombia, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, France, Georgia, Germany, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Türkiye, Uruguay |
| Description | )On 1, 4 and 5 April 2022, IOM, co-hosted a successful Global Diaspora Summit (GDS), in partnership with the Government of Ireland and other lead participating states. The Summit assisted States and partners in taking stock of achievements vis-à-vis Objective 19 as a contribution towards the quadrennial International Migration Review Forum happening in May 2022. The GDS convened governments, diaspora organizations, and other relevant actors to develop a collaborative vision, through meaningful and structured dialogue, towards actively engaging with transnational communities as agents and accelerators of sustainable development. The outcome of the GDS is The Dublin Declaration, a plan of action for diaspora organizations to institutionalize and operationalize diaspora capitals across policies, programmes, and partnerships in a coherent and consistent framework. It outlines a concise and visionary plan of action to support strategic engagement of diaspora organizations. Most importantly, the document reflects the need to nurture partnerships across sectors and different levels of government, the necessity to create sustainable opportunities and mechanisms to learn and contribute, and the relevance to keep fostering innovative solutions and programmes tailored to the interests and skills of diaspora members. |
| Website | https://www.iom.int/global-diaspora-summit-2022 |
Q5. In the 2019 SDG Summit declaration (GA Resolution 74/4), Member States outlined ten priority areas for accelerated action in SDG implementation. Please highlight any major integrated and innovative policies or initiatives that your organization may have adopted in these ten priority areas:
5.1 leaving no one behind
Reconfirming the UN’s commitment to leave no one behind in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, IOM’s MSD Strategy highlights the role of migrants and displaced populations at the center of inclusive and sustainable development. One of the outcomes of the strategy is to empower migrants and their families to contribute to sustainable development. The Joint UN SDG Acceleration Toolkit includes 5 dedicated IOM tools and platforms that contribute to not leaving people on the move behind in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. In order to leave no migrant behind, better data is needed. IOM released a report in May 2022 that examines how much progress has been made since 2015 in attaining migration-related SDG targets and in improving data overall on migration and the 2030 Agenda. There has clearly been some progress relating to migration and development data: for instance, on conceptualizing and operationalizing the migration governance indicator 10.7.2 for which data is now available in 70% of countries. However, – for example for indicator 10.7.3 on the number of people who died or disappeared on their migration journey, no country reports this or any other data measuring ‘safe’ migration called for in the SDGs or GCM at national level. There is in some ways, a disconnect between global advancements on migration and development data, and concrete progress at national level: data on SDG-migration indicators was available for only 55% of countries in 2020; and migrants are invisible from much of the available data. Often migrants or migrant sub-groups – such as IDPs or unaccompanied minors – are especially vulnerable and not included in official statistics at all. To include them in development policies, they first need to be counted and visible.
5.2 mobilizing adequate and well-directed financing
In order to increase adequate and well-directed financing for sustainable development, in line with its commitments to the Funding Compact, IOM is supporting increased inter-agency collaboration and joint funding opportunities, aiming to increase its access to pooled funding. As Coordinator of the UN Network on Migration, IOM is also housing the Fund Management Unit for the dedicated Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund as an interagency mechanism to support the implementation of the GCM, in line with the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. IOM’s work in the area of SDG financing falls within the institution’s work on broader migration and development and draws from its institutional mandate, the SDGs, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the GCM. IOM is seeking to support financial empowerment of migrants and displaced populations and leverage the positive impact of remittances and the role of diaspora organizations for sustainable development. IOM is part of the UN High Level Process on Financing for Development.
5.3 enhancing national implementation
As a core member of the UN Sustainable Development Group, IOM is supporting joint UN initiatives to advance national implementation for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. A concrete example is IOM’s support to inter-agency missions for Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support (MAPS) for the achievement of the SDGs. IOM is also supporting governments in the Voluntary National Review process on the 2030 Agenda, to identify mobility-related challenges and gaps. IOM’s global knowledge hub on Migration and Sustainable Development (M4D Net) brings together practitioners and policymakers from around the world. Its innovative tools allow experts to exchange ideas, develop skills and consolidate partnerships to harness the development potential of migration and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs and the GCM. In collaboration with other UN agencies and development cooperation partners, in particular the European Union, IOM is also working to strengthen the mainstreaming of migration into international cooperation and development policy, and has released in 2022, nine toolkits developed jointly with 11 UN Agencies and providing practical and hands on tools and guidance for policy practitioners to integrate migration into nine key policy sectors.
5.4 strengthening institutions for more integrated solutions
IOM is the founding member of the UN-led Integrated Policy Practitioner’s Network (IPPN), hosted by UNDP, to advance integrated solutions for the achievement of the SDGs The Global IOM-UNDP Joint Programme on Making Migration Work for Sustainable Development (M4SD) is the third phase of a long-standing approach to mainstreaming migration into government policy planning and programming for an integrated approach to ensure that good migration governance can support sustainable development outcomes. The Programme works with 11 countries globally to apply a whole-of-government approach to migration governance that builds understanding around how migration affects and is affected by other sectoral policies and development trends in four main priority sectors: health, employment, education and social security and human rights. By identifying policy gaps and integrating migration into relevant sectoral policies as well as refining existing or development new migration-specific policies according to the unique context of each country, the Programme is supporting governments ensure that migration governance is part and parcel of their efforts to achieve inclusive sustainable development. For example, in Nepal, the Programme established two coordination mechanisms to support vertical policy coherence and collaboration among local and national governments. These mechanisms transfer lessons and capacities learned from local initiatives into national policy and planning on development and sustainable reintegration. In Morocco, the Programme supports the roll-out and decentralization of the National Immigration and Asylum Strategy across three regions. The national policy includes priority areas on employment, education and health. In addition, the programme supports Regional Multi-Stakeholder Working Groups in Migration and Development to promote a whole-of-government approach.
5.5 bolstering local action
IOM works first and foremost at the local level, in communities, and with local actors who are the first to be affected by and address the realities of migration. As per the 2021 Annual Report (the 2022 report is pending and will be released in mid-2023), IOM lays the foundations for durable solutions for IDPs, through return, relocation and local integration activities reaching a total of 765k people. 55 IOM offices supported awareness-raising campaigns, targeting civil society organizations, media counterparts and local governments to counter xenophobia and discrimination, reaching approximately 17 million people. IOM also provided capacity-building support on migrant inclusion at the local and national levels. Globally, IOM supported the development of 30 government strategies to address discrimination and piloted tools to collect more robust and comparable data on migrant integration. IOM supported 7 local governments to prepare and submit SDG Local Voluntary Reviews and provided policy experience and expertise to over 170 migration related policy and law processes at the national and local levels; for example, the IOM Office in Madagascar worked with local and national authorities to mainstream well-managed internal migration into inclusive and sustainable urban development strategies. 22 local governments conducted Migration Governance Indicators assessments, laying the groundwork for improved governance of migration in these countries and local jurisdictions. Some examples: - Through its M4SD Programme, IOM also works together with UNDP to empower local and regional authorities and civil society as leaders of the funded initiatives in their territories. Working with 13 local government entities across 6 countries and 5 local civil society organizations, the Programme provides policy support to integrate migration into local policy planning for sustainability and policy coherence (e.g. development of 9 local development plans and policies) and provides capacity development and technical assistance for successful and sustainable implementation of the funded initiatives (e.g. the Programme has trained or shared knowledge between nearly 800 governmental officials and policy stakeholders across 11 countries) and enhanced data collection and reporting against the Sustainable Development Goals. In Ecuador, activities empower four municipal and provincial governments, and two Cantonal Councils on Human Mobility, to effectively integrate human mobility into local development planning and support decent work and employment opportunities for migrants, refugees and local community members. In Serbia, the Programme partners with three municipalities’ Local Youth Offices and local technical schools to address the challenges of youth rural-urban migration, working with unemployed youth and the Roma population with a particular focus on the livelihoods of women. By promoting skills training and access to employment, this work is contributing to the sustainable development of local communities. - Equally, the Mayors Mechanism’s Call to Local Action for Migrants and Refugees represents a significant effort to collect, bolster and share 70+ locally led actions and solutions on migration. - IOM has also set up a city-to-city knowledge network on integration. For example, in Europe, a new regional project called Includ-EU was launched to bolster cooperation and partnerships on migrant integration between local and regional authorities from Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. The project implements a series of capacity-building initiatives to improve the knowledge and capacity of local authorities to facilitate the integration of third-country nationals, as well as a number of pilot projects that aim to promote equitable access to housing, health care, education and employment, and encourage active citizenship.
5.6 reducing disaster risk and building resilience
IOM is leveraging its global leadership on displacement data for effective early warning by providing crucial information on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix, operational in over 100 countries, tracked over 31 million displaced persons in 2021. The IOM Global Data Institute is expanding its work on climate change and early warning related data collection and analysis. Given the lack of displacement-related metrics among the indicators that countries use to monitor progress of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, IOM and IDMC have launched a joint project to develop a set of indicators that will monitor disaster displacement, its impacts and related risks. Similarly, to cover the gap on indicators for the implementation of the GCM, PDD and IOM have developed an indicators framework to assess the progress made by States on implementing the GCM Objectives relevant to disasters, climate change and environmental degradation. This Framework was already piloted, resulting in a Baseline Mapping for just over 20 countries. IOM is strengthening early warning systems in multiple countries around the world. For example, in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania and Senegal, IOM has set up early warning systems through the Transhumance Tracking Tool (TTT) to prepare communities for early or large seasonal transhumance movements. This contributed to efforts in reducing tensions between pastoralist and local farmers. IOM works on ecosystem restoration together with communities to identify key risk behaviors that have direct impacts on environmental degradation and living conditions. IOM is actively supporting restoration of coastal mangrove forests (mainly focused in Asia-Pacific, SIDS) to reduce the impacts of coastal flooding, and work on drainage systems in urban and peri-urban areas impacted by flooding, rapid population growth and limited mitigation infrastructure in cities like Dakar, Freetown, Port-au-Prince, Bangui, Ndjamena, Dili, and Beira. In South Sudan, IOM is using community-based disaster risk management to promote communities' ability to sustainably prevent and respond to flooding and to foster resiliency. As the direct result of building dikes and other forms of protective infrastructure to address the consequences of more regular and intense Nile flooding, 100s of hectares of land where 10,000s of people reside has been recovered from flood waters. In Somalia, competition over access to land and water is the structural driver of most violent conflict. Climate change and environmental degradation further reduce scarce water resources, forcing communities to migrate and confront one another for control over diminishing ecological yields. Through multi-sectoral collaboration, IOM, UNEP and SIPRI are implementing a project designed to reduce displacement and conflict through tangible investments in physical water infrastructure and pragmatic innovations for water and energy capture in the agro-pastoral sector, bolstered by sustained dialogue, conflict mediation and enhanced natural resource management. IOM also supported policy development for facilitating regular migration pathways in the context of disasters, climate change and environmental degradation. In 2021 the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa adopted a Freedom of Movement Protocol, which allows those displaced by disasters to cross borders. Regional-level processes, such as the South American Conference on Migration, have also informed national policy developments, such as Argentina’s Special Humanitarian Visas to facilitate admission of those from Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean who are fleeing disasters. What is more, the Solomon Islands has recently developed a set of planned relocation guidelines through a collaboration between IOM and over 300 representatives from government, civil society and community representatives.
5.7 solving challenges through international cooperation and enhancing the global partnership
As the Coordinator and Secretariat of the UN Network on Migration, IOM is leading efforts to provide timely, system-wide support to States in the implementation, follow up, and review of the GCM at the national, regional, and global levels. To mainstream the GCM in national planning and implementation, including within the framework of the 2030 Agenda, over 70 country networks have been established across the globe. The country networks align with the repositioning of the UN development system (UNDS) and provide coordinated support from the UN system on migration. Five regional networks have also been established to strengthen regional and sub-regional cooperation as well as providing technical supports to the national-level Networks. At the global level, IOM is (co-)leading all three Core and several Thematic Workstreams outlined in the UN Network on Migration Workplan, providing dedicated guidance, tools, policy papers, statements and dialogues to strengthen international collaboration on migration governance. Key examples include The Migration Network Hub, the Global Diaspora Summit 2022, GCM Implementation Guidance for governments and stakeholders, and training for UNCTs on integrating migration into Common Country Analyses and Cooperation Frameworks.
5.8 harnessing science, technology and innovation with a greater focus on digital transformation for sustainable development
The iDiaspora platform is a global engagement and knowledge exchange hub for diaspora communities. The platform is a community driven digital space, designed to empower diaspora engagement and transnational communities in the 21st century. The platform allows users including diaspora leaders, organizations, practitioners, experts, businesses, and governments, to share their opinions, ideas, experiences and best practices in order to contribute to sustainable positive change and maximize the impact of diaspora as empowered development actors. Since its launch in 2018, the platform has been visited around 709,835 times and has 1713 members from all over the world including diaspora leaders, organizations, government officials and members of civil society. The global and multidisciplinary approach of the platform aims to include actors from all over the world specializing in different areas of diaspora engagement and development to keep empowering transnational communities and showcasing the human, social and economic potential of migrants for host and home societies.
5.9 investing in data and statistics for the SDGs
In 2022, IOM championed the collection and use of migration data towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Related activities carried out through IOM’s Global Data Institute (GDI) include developing methodologies and collecting data relevant for several SDG indicators, supporting countries to develop their capacity to generate and report meaningful data on migration in the context of the SDGs as well as boosting use of this data. IOM is working closely with Member States to support the implementation and monitoring of the 2030 Agenda, including through the monitoring of indicators 10.7.2 and 10.7.3. Indicator 10.7.2, developed by IOM, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), aims to strengthen the evidence base on “well-managed migration”. Based partly on IOM’s Migration Governance Indicators (MGI) project, data is collected through the United Nations Inquiry among Governments on Population and Development. Indicator 10.7.3 was adopted in 2020, using data from IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, and is the only concrete measure of “safe” migration the 2030 Agenda. The Global Migration Data Analysis Center (GMDAC) conducts data collection for 10.7.3 through its Missing Migrants Project. Through GMDAC, IOM supports disaggregation of SDG data by migratory status. In 2022, IOM worked with governments and other partners to improve this type of data disaggregation through targeted capacity development activities, and to encourage peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange on this. At the national level, IOM worked with national authorities to strengthen the collection of data disaggregated by migratory status and identify SDG indicators relevant to their national priorities. Under the umbrella of the African Migration Data Network, the third edition of the African School on Migration Statistics was organized in September 2022, with a fourth edition being planned for 2023. In 2022, IOM published “Migration and the SDGs: Measuring Progress”, an edited volume that represents the first comprehensive stocktaking of migration trends within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the effects that the SDGs have had on migration data. Ahead of the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF), and drawing from its repository of practices, the Migration Network Hub prepared a video to raise awareness on the various efforts and positive practices of Member States and other stakeholders to leverage the GCM towards achievements in sustainable development. In 2023, the Global Migration Data Portal will elevate the content and search features of the SDG data section. IOM’s primary data collection project for internal displacement and other forms of human mobility, the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), is operational in over 80 countries and collects data relevant to a range of SDGs. DTM primarily collects data on population estimates, demographics, locations, mobility dynamics and needs. However, through its multi-sectoral data collection exercises, and close collaboration with the humanitarian cluster system (in humanitarian contexts), and thematic expert stakeholders (in non-humanitarian contexts), DTM activities also capture data on mobile populations relating to income and livelihoods, access to food, health, education, water sanitation and hygiene services, experiences of discrimination and inequalities, and more. In seeking to better collect, analyze and utilize migration and displacement data in an ethical and responsible way, IOM, through its DTM projects, has been a pioneer in establishing technical standards for humanitarian data collection, data protection principles and technical infrastructure. In this vein IOM has also contributed to industry wide resources, tools and guidelines for ethical innovation and the use of advanced data science methods as co-chair of the Data Science and Ethics group. Diasporas are development actors with economic, social, cultural and human capital. They contribute to their countries of origin and destination through transnational links and initiatives. Nevertheless, there are many gaps in data on the size and profile of diaspora communities as well as their contributions. The absence of specified data impedes the development and implementation of evidence-based diaspora engagement and related development-focused policies and programmes. Many of these data gaps are endemic for practitioners and researchers due to the lack of effective and efficient methodologies for data collection and analysis, and there are few standardised tools and practises that support the collection of comparable data across populations and contexts. In addition, current methodologies tend to overfocus on the impact of remittances as the main economic contribution of diasporas leaving aside other relevant economic contributions such as investment, philanthropy, trade and tourism. To contribute to the better understand and systematize diasporas’ capital and potential for development in specific SDGs, IOM has developed two key guidances: The IOM Diaspora Mapping Toolkit and Contributions and Counting. The IOM Diaspora Mapping Toolkit is designed to be a practical and flexible tool that provides comprehensive guidance on how to better capture data on diaspora members’ profile, capacities, and expectations. This product is a joint effort between practitioners and academics and was field tested in Ecuador, Eswatini and Senegal. It includes methodological advice, research strategies and practical standardised tools to facilitate the collection of consistent, quality, and comparable data in diaspora studies across geographies and time in order to inform evidence-based policies. Contributions and Counting: Guidance on Measuring the Economic Impact of your Diaspora beyond Remittances provides guidance for governments and national authorities on how they can adjust existing data collection methods in order to disaggregated data on economic contributions by migratory or diaspora status and thus better design, monitor, and evaluate policies and programmes that maximise the economic contributions beyond financial remittances made by their diaspora. Both methodologies crystalize IOM’s commitment to developing effective, inclusive and data-based policies. Each guidance reflects a rigorous and standardized approaches to policymaking, taking into consideration the specificities of each territory, the dynamics on the ground and the multiple stakeholders interacting with transnational communities including diasporas themselves.
5.10 strengthening the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF)
IOM is a strong supporter of the HLPF and has contributed regularly to the yearly request for submissions to highlight the importance of including people on the move in sustainable development planning and leverage the potential of migration for accelerating the achievement of the SDGs. In addition to its contributions through the preparatory work leading to the HLPF itself, and following the holding of the first International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) in May 2022, IOM’s Director General, in his capacity of Coordinator of the UNNM was invited by the President of the ECOSOC to intervene during the Town Hall session of the HLPF on “Building back better and advancing the SDGs”, and spoke on the linkages between the implementation of the GCM and the 2030 Agenda. On the margins of the HLPF, the UN Network on Migration, UNDP and UN DESA convened a side-event titled: “Actioning the commitments of the IMRF progress declaration to advance the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and that saw the participation of panelists representing UN agencies, Member States, civil society, and local actors. The event was the first opportunity to bring together key IMRF partners to discuss how to move forward on the Progress Declaration in fulfillment of the SDGs. Through the event, stakeholders identified good practices and lessons learnt in the governance of international migration, including during the pandemic, to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs, and discussed concrete actions to strengthen the linkages between the GCM, the 2030 Agenda and their review forums – and notably the HLPF.
Q6. Following the adoption of the 2022 Ministerial Declaration, please highlight any major integrated and innovative policies or initiatives that your organization may have adopted related to the below, if applicable:
6.1 Member States encouraged "the United Nations system and all relevant actors to take advantage of emerging technologies and their applications, as appropriate, in order to maximize impact and effectiveness in data analysis and collection and stress the need to bridge the digital gap among and within countries" (Paragraph 86)
The Global Data Institute, through the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) and the Global Migration Data Analysis Center (GMDAC), is primarily working with traditional data sources and methodologies (such as individual surveys), to provide programs and decision makers with actionable data. However, the data landscape in the humanitarian and development fields is quickly evolving and adapting to new trends and technologies. Big data sources are proving to be a useful source of data when harvested with the proper ethical considerations and can provide programs and policy with the needed information. As such, IOM’s Global Data Institute started working, among other things, to use social media data to estimate displacement in a rapid, almost real-time manner. IOM also used satellite remote sensing to identify transhumance corridors in West and Central Africa. IOM regularly uses web scraping (a technique used for extracting data from websites) and natural language processing (a methodology used to process and analyze large amounts of natural language data) to develop early warning systems or analyze sentiment towards specific topics (e.g. migration). IOM also supports and develops forecasting and foresight models on human mobility, including on climate-induced mobility, to better plan for future activities.
6.2 Member States specifically called upon the UN system "to work with the newly established United Nations Food Systems Coordination Hub, hosted by FAO, to support Governments to develop and strengthen SDG-based national pathways for sustainable food systems transformation" (Paragraph 128)
There are complex and dynamic interlinkages between migration governance (SDG 10) and various elements of SDG 2 and other SDGs, including between migration and agriculture and rural livelihoods; migration and food and nutrition security; and migration and climate change adaptation and resilience. These interlinkages are heightened in the context of crisis and global shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Migration has long been a key livelihood strategy to cope with the seasonality and the uncertainty associated with agriculture. A lot of people move because of lack of employment opportunities or to escape poverty, food insecurity and other forms of discrimination and marginalization. As a result of conflict and disasters, large numbers of people, families, and communities can also be displaced from rural areas, leaving life-sustaining livestock and income yielding-crops behind. When displacement is longer term or protracted, this can lead to the disruption or collapse of food production, the degradation of agricultural land, and the breakdown of agricultural value chains. Migration impacts and is impacted by (1) the availability of food due to changes in the labour force, pressures on natural resources and changes in productivity; (2) the access to food due to changes in household incomes, employment and remittance flows; (3) the utilization of food based on changes in energy and nutrient intake by individuals as the result of good care and feeding practices, food preparation, diversity of the diet and intra-household distribution of food; and (4) the stability of the other three dimensions over time affected by access to income-generating opportunities by migrants as well as the stability and predictability of remittances for households of origin. Migrants also often play an essential role in food systems. It is estimated that migrants carry out more than a quarter of the world’s farm work, and migrants also work throughout the food transformation supply chains, including in transportation and logistics.
IOM has been part of the UN (inter-agency) Food Systems Summit Task Force and followed its work leading up to the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and the follow up to it. The UN Food System Task Force contributes to set the strategic direction of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub.
Q7. The 2023 SDG Summit is expected to provide political leadership, guidance and recommendations for sustainable development and follow-up and review progress in the implementation of sustainable development commitments and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, including through national and regional consultations, which will mark the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress towards the SDGs. In the lead up to the 2023 SDG Summit, please provide your organization’s recommendations on how to overcome challenges to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the SDGs, taking into account the thematic reviews and voluntary national reviews conducted to date.
The pandemic has underscored the importance of migration for prosperous and healthy societies, and this year’s HLPF’s review of achievements towards SDGs 4, 5, 14, 15, and 17 has evidenced yet again that migration is more than ever a multi-faceted reality that can make contribute to positive development outcomes – on the SDGs as a whole. Human mobility unites societies, economies, and markets in a manner which proved to be resilient despite COVID-19 disruptions.
As Member States and stakeholders gathered in New York in May 2022 for the first International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM), they sent a resounding and clear message: migration and sustainable development are inextricably linked. We will not meet the SDGs without harnessing the potential of migration and contribution of migrants and addressing the needs and priorities of migrants and communities to ensure that migration is safe, orderly and regular, as defined in the GCM. When well-managed, migration can be both a development strategy and a development outcome. But to meet that ambition, and despite the positive progress, efforts need to be stepped up to enable the implementation of the GCM to contribute to achieving the 2030 Agenda. To do this, stronger links need to be established between how the GCM and SDGs are measured and monitored, including through their review forums.
The IOM submission to the 2022 HLPF lists numerous examples of government-led responses that leverage migration action to support recovery and accelerate progress under individual SDGs and on the SDGs as a whole. The Voluntary National Review (VNR) process is an opportunity for countries to share and disseminate those good practices across countries and regions. Yet, during the 2021 session of the HLPF, only half of all 42 VNRs submitted by States referred to migration. States should consider migration as a transversal element of development and encourage whole-of-government reporting on migration policies and programmes in their VNRs, reflecting the Voluntary GCM Review reports submitted to the regional reviews and to the IMRF. Additionally, and given the growing recognition of the critical role of local authorities – among many GCM stakeholders – in migration governance, the Voluntary Local Review (VLR) process provides an opportunity to connect and measure how mobility contributes to sustainable development at the local level and within communities; in line with the whole-of-society guiding principle and comprehensive approach of the GCM.
Greater efforts are needed to develop ambitious national responses for the implementation of the GCM. States can and should also build on the now large base of evidence and understanding of the interconnections between migration, displacement, and sustainable development, to proactively and coherently integrate them into national development plans, policies, and development cooperation efforts, including the UN System’s Cooperation Frameworks. The UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) – developed based on the Common Country Analysis (CCA) – is the key UN-country level instrument that guides the entire programme cycle, driving planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation of collective UN support for achieving the 2030 Agenda.
In 2022, IOM conducted an internal macro-review to monitor the integration of migration and displacement under all CCAs and UNSDCFs documents in countries where a new UNSDCF cycle started. The review shows that migration is well integrated into both CCAs and UNSDCFs: a total of 39 CCAs and 42 UNSDCF documents were reviewed, and overall, almost 75% of all CCAs in 2021 and 2022 UNSDCFs included details on the main mobility trends in the country; 80% of CCAs referenced migrants and displaced persons in the LNOB analysis and migrants and displaced persons are increasingly identified as contributors to national development processes in the CCAs, with a considerable increase of over 34% in the 2022 cycle compared to 2021. However, the analysis of challenges and gaps related to migration governance overall and its relation to sustainable development should be strengthened; and there is a noticeable difference between the inclusion of migration and displacement into CCAs and how this translates into actual programming under the respective UNSDCFs.
There is a need for strengthened data and to further refine the means and capacities to measure and assess the status of implementation of the various migration-related SDGs. It is no accident that collecting and utilizing accurate and disaggregated data represents the first objective of the Global Compact for Migration. This means making development data collection more migrant-inclusive and disaggregating development data by migratory status wherever possible, as well as age, sex/gender, disability status and other dimensions.
In addition, in its submission to the HLPF 2022 IOM outlined 11 actions for safe, orderly and regular migration to recover better from COVID-19 and accelerate sustainable development. These actions, underpinned by its Institutional strategy on Migration and Sustainable Development apply an integrated approach to migration, recovery and sustainable development, and build on the opportunities the GCM objectives can bring for the achievement of the SDGs individually and as a whole. In the lead up to the 2023 SDG Summit, these “accelerating” actions remain as relevant as ever:
Accelerating Actions to leverage migration for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals:
- Protect migrants’ human rights, including the protection of social and economic rights across borders (SDGs: 1, 10, 16; GCM Objectives: 15, 16, 22)
- Identify and address the factors which lead people to migrate in an unsafe manner (SDGs: 1, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16; GCM Objective: 2)
- Leverage digitalization to enhance migrants’ well-being and facilitate their contributions to sustainable development (SDGs: 1, 8, 9; GCM Objectives: 3, 7, 16, 18, 19)
- Restart mobility and expand safe and regular migration pathways in the circular economy to boost recovery efforts (SDGs: 1, 8, 10, 13; GCM Objectives: 6, 15, 18)
- Empower diaspora groups, migrants and displaced persons, in particular through financial inclusion in line with sustainable and productive investment strategies (SDGs: 8, 9, 10, 17; GCM Objectives: 19, 20)
- Protect migrant workers along global supply chains and throughout recruitment processes (SDGs: 5, 8; GCM Objectives: 6)
- Empower local governments and include migrants in local decision-making to support recovery in severely affected urban settings (SDGs: 11, 13, 16; GCM Objectives: 2, 15, 19)
- Effectively connect recovery with greening the economy and climate action in relation to migration (SDGs: 7, 13, 15; GCM Objective: 2)
- Combat xenophobia and harness the positive role of diversity for inclusive recovery (SDGs: 3, 10, 11, 16; GCM Objectives: 16, 17)
- Ensure equitable access to services to recover better (SDGs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10; GCM Objective: 15)
- Strengthened data, research and analysis on the interlinkages between migration, internally displaced, COVID-19 and sustainable development (SDGs: 10, 16; GCM Objective: 1)