EC-UN Joint Migration & Development Initiative
Project Duration: 3 Years, 2008-2011 Project Budget: 15 million Euros
The European Commission United Nations Joint Migration and Development
Initiative (JMDI) reflects the acceptance of and growing interest in the
strong links between migration and development. The UN High Level Dialogue
on Migration and Development in 2006 and the subsequent Global Fora on
Migration and Development underscored international migrants contribution
to destination countries, where they meet labour shortages and enrich local
cultures.
The programme, which is implemented by the UNDP Brussels Office in
partnership with the European Commission, also represents a major innovation - and may come
to function as a template - as far as inter-agency collaboration is
concerned. Four agencies - UNHCR, UNFPA, ILO and IOM - are directly engaged
in the management and direction of the programme alongside UNDP and contribute their
institutional knowledge, expertise and extensive networks to ensure its
success
The overall objective of the Joint Initiative is to support civil society
organizations and local authorities seeking to contribute to linking
migration and development. The Joint Initiative also aims to 1) set up and
reinforce networks of actors working on migration and development and 2)
identify good practice in this field and share information on what actually
works at the local and international level among those who are active in
this field with a view to 3) feeding into policy-making on migration and
development.
A Call for
Proposals, which was launched on 1st December 2008 and ran until 27th
March 2009, provides approximately 10 million Euro in funding to support
concrete interventions in four priority areas: 1) Migrant remittances; 2)
Migrant communities; 3) Migrant capacities; 4) Migrant rights.
55 successful projects (selected out of a total of 547 applications)
will be implemented as of September 2009 by consortia of non-state actors
linking migrant host, transit and sending countries. Each consortium
includes a partner based in the European Union and one in one of the
sixteen target countries: Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt; Cape Verde,
Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Ethiopia; Ecuador and Jamaica; Georgia and
Moldova; Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
The JMDI has also launched an online global Community of Practice,
M4D-Net,
which brings individuals and groups from around the world together to
exchange information and ideas on migration and development, develop skills
and provide each other with mutual support.
Annual Stakeholder Fairs will bring practitioners together, virtually or
physically, to further develop networking and partnerships, and the sharing
of lessons learnt.
The first Migration for Development Knowledge Fair, which was supported
by UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Maria Sharapova, was held on
1st-4th December 2008 and saw hundreds of members of diaspora groups and
representatives of NGOs, local authorities from developing and European
countries, the EU institutions and UN agencies gather in Brussels to share
information and ideas based on their experiences in the field of migration
and development. UNDP Associate Administrator
Ad Melkert welcomed participants to the Fair. The 1st
M4D Virtual Fair was held on 2nd-3rd November 2009 in parallel with the
Civil Society Days of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (Athens,
2-5 November).
Contact:
EC-UN Joint Migration and
Development Initiative
United Nations / United Nations Development Programme Brussels Office
14 rue Montoyer
1000 Brussels
Belgium
Tel : (32) 2 235 05 50
Fax : (32) 2 235 05 59
website : www.migration4development.org
email: jmdi.pmu@undp.org
|
