Mainstreaming Migration into International Cooperation and Development (MMICD)

The Mainstreaming Migration into International Cooperation and Development (MMICD) project aims to strengthen the process of integrating migration into international cooperation and development policy.

Under the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, MMICD provides systematic guidance on how migration can be integrated into development cooperation sectors in a manner that:

• Harnesses the development potential of migration;
• Ensures that risks and opportunities are fully assessed;
• Makes development cooperation more coherent and effective.

The project is funded by the European Commission’s Directorate – General for International Partnership (DG INTPA) and runs from 2017 to 2023.

Contact the MMICD Project Team at ROBrusselsMMICD@iom.int and check out #MMICD activity on Twitter.

Development Sectors in Focus

 Education 

Education is not only essential for all individuals to maximize their capabilities and livelihoods, but it is also important for building peaceful and prosperous societies. Universal access to education constitutes a central pillar of sustainable development, with the linkage between migration and education explicitly recognized in the SDGs.

As part of the MMICD Package of Resources, you can access a Toolkit for International Cooperation and Development Actors: Integrating Migration into Education Interventions that was developed in collaboration with UNICEF, UNESCO, and ILO.

We tell the story of Marlene, a high school student growing up in a transit community on the border of Mozambique and South Africa. Marlene has received sexual and reproductive health information, counselling and support through a school‑based programme, empowering her to complete her schooling. Sharing her story, she is now mobilizing her peers to stay in school and achieve their educational goals. Download the training card.

 Employment

Migration can be a strategy to access better employment opportunities, as people move to attain better education, jobs, or working conditions. Migrant workers constitute nearly five per cent of the global labour force and are an integral part of the world economy.

As part of the MMICD Package of Resources, you can access a Toolkit for International Cooperation and Development Actors: Integrating Migration into Employment Interventions that was developed in collaboration with ILO.

published by DG- INTPA.

published by DG- INTPA

Moises is a former migrant mineworker from Mozambique. After working for many years in the mines in South Africa, he realized that his earned employment benefits did not transfer when he returned home. He and some colleagues founded the Association of Mozambican Mineworkers (AMIMO) to advocate for a change in the benefits system for migrant mineworkers, and to inform others of their rights and the services available to them. Read the story of Moises. Download the training card

Read the story of Moises published by DG INTPA, the European Commission Directorate‑General for International Cooperation and Development.

 Environment and Climate Change

Migration impacted by climate change is commonly referred to as environmental migration. There are many types of environmental migration. For example, people can be displaced due to extreme weather events, or communities may evacuate ahead of a disaster.

As part of the MMICD Package of Resources, you can access a Toolkit for International Cooperation and Development Actors: Integrating Migration into Environment and Climate Change Interventions that was developed in collaboration with UNEP and UNDP.

published by DG- INTPA

Climate change is occurring at rates much faster than anticipated and its effects are clearly felt worldwide. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Small Island Development States of the Pacific. Carlon is a student in the Republic of the Marshall Islands who knows that climate change is threatening the future of his country. More frequent and stronger high tides, and prolonged droughts, are already changing the social fabric in which he is growing up. Carlon joins those raising their voices to advocate for climate action to prevent forced migration. Download the training card

Read the story of Carlon published by DG INTPA, the European Commission Directorate‑General for International Cooperation and Development.

 Governance

Governance can have significant implications on migration – in all its forms – and migrants themselves. Poor governance may contribute to poverty, lack of opportunity and services, violations of rights, and even conflict, which can prompt nationals to emigrate or flee.

As part of the MMICD Package of Resources, you can access a Toolkit for International Cooperation and Development Actors: Integrating Migration into Governance Interventions that was developed in collaboration with UNDP.

Novelita is a former overseas domestic worker who became indebted to her employer. Upon her return to the Philippines, she joined a Trade Union for Domestic Workers and started to actively participate in decision-making processes, promoting the rights of female domestic workers. She is now Union President, advocating for administrative and legislative change. Download the training card

 Health

Health is a universal human right, regardless of migration status. The ways in which migration and health interact are multifaceted. Migration is a social determinant of health and migrants can be vulnerable to health risks resulting from the migration process, as well as their migration status.

As part of the MMICD Package of Resources, you can access a Toolkit for International Cooperation and Development Actors: Integrating Migration into Health Interventions that was developed in collaboration with WHO, UNAIDS, and ILO.

We tell the story of Fernando, a migrant farmworker who is now able to access health services through mobile clinics that come to the farm where he works. Accessing health services has contributed to Fernando’s own well-being and productivity, and has had positive ripple effects in the wider community where he works and back at home. Download the training card

 Private Sector Development and Trade

Migrants can be facilitators of trade and investment in goods and services, by connecting countries of origin, transit and destination through trade routes and business linkages.

As part of the MMICD Package of Resources, you can access a Toolkit for International Cooperation and Development Actors: Integrating Migration into Private Sector Development and Trade Interventions that was developed in collaboration with UNCTAD.

Joji is a return migrant from the Philippines who was a financial advisor in Canada. Upon return, harnessing the skills she developed abroad, she started a social enterprise to contribute to peacebuilding. She is now expanding her business by training local farmers to grow, sell, and trade their own coffee and improve sustainable livelihoods. Download the training card.

 Rural Development

A large share of migrants originate from rural areas. For many rural households, especially in developing countries, migration is a livelihood and income diversification strategy to manage risks and uncertainty associated with agriculture and seasonality.

As part of the MMICD Package of Resources, you can access a Toolkit for International Cooperation and Development Actors: Integrating Migration into Rural Development Interventions that was developed in collaboration with FAO.

published by DG- INTPA

Garry is a migrant worker who is now the packhouse manager on a farm in South Africa. Working in the agriculture sector interested Garry because it was work that he already knew. Since migrating from Zimbabwe, over time, his skills and eagerness to grow professionally led to new opportunities. Garry now oversees 200 employees in the packhouse and has gained enough resources to provide for his family back home. Download the training card

Read the story of Garry published by DG INTPA, the European Commission Directorate‑General for International Cooperation and Development.

 Security

Security is a necessary precondition for sustainable development. The drivers of insecurity or instability such as poverty, corruption, weak institutions, lack of rule of law, natural resource governance, and conflicts, often overlap with the drivers of migration and the realities that migrants face when on the move.

As part of the MMICD Package of Resources, you can access a Toolkit for International Cooperation and Development Actors: Integrating Migration into Security Interventions that was developed in collaboration with UNODC.

Larry, President of the Marshalls BillFish Club, recognizes that the balanced fishing industry sustains the livelihoods of many of those residing in the country. He understands the importance of linking border management and sustainable maritime responses in order to ensure that the fishing industry is not overly exploited. Download the training card. 

 Urban Development

Over half of the world’s population lives in cities, and almost all population growth in the foreseeable future is expected to occur in urban areas. Approximately half of this urban growth is expected to occur through migration, mainly through regional or internal migration.

As part of the MMICD Package of Resources, you can access a Toolkit for International Cooperation and Development Actors: Integrating Migration into Urban Development Interventions that was developed in collaboration with UN-Habitat.

Rebecca is an internal migrant living in a densely populated district in metro Manila, Philippines. With predictions of a category seven earthquake among the threats in her district, Rebecca fears displacement due to disaster. By getting involved in local Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) initiatives run by the local government, Rebecca and her family feel better prepared. Download the training card.

Package of Resources

The Package of Resources for Mainstreaming Migration into International Cooperation and Development (MMICD) provides development practitioners with insights into why integrating migration is important, what it entails, and how it can be achieved. It consists of:

• Part 1 – Guidelines: Introduces the background information, facts and figures, conceptual frameworks, and key resources to support efforts to integrate migration into development cooperation.
• Part 2 – Toolkits: Contains a series of tools to integrate migration that can be applied when designing, implementing and/or evaluating interventions in various sectors including health, education, employment, governance, security, rural and urban development, private sector development and trade and environment and climate change, based on the technical insights from IOM and UN partners with the specific expertise in these sectors.
• Part 3 – Training: Brings the content of the Guidelines and Toolkits to life through a blended learning approach that consists of an e-learning course and complementary webinars. This is available via DG INTPA Academy.

You can access these Resource here.

Pilot Countries

The guidelines and training materials were piloted in three partner countries – Ecuador, Nepal, and Madagascar. The piloting included sensitization to the importance of mainstreaming migration, capacity building and provision of tools and technical assistance to mainstream migration in selected development sectors.

The following sectors were in focus in each of the pilot countries:

The type of assistance provided to pilot countries included:

• country assessment to assess the extent of migration mainstreaming in their international cooperation and development policies;
  • Ecuador Assessment Report
  • Madagascar Assessment Report
  • Nepal Assessment Report
• training workshop for relevant government officials and other stakeholders on mainstreaming migration into their international cooperation and development; and
   
• technical assistance (in the form of short-term expertise) to mainstream migration into the country strategy documents and/or other relevant plans, policies and programmes.
  • Ecuador: Two technical assistance efforts were conducted in Ecuador. One of them focused on integrating migration into the four-year local Development and Territorial Management Plans (PDOTs) of five Decentralized Autonomous Governments (GADs), which were in the process of being revised. A local methodological toolkit to integrate migration in PDOTs was developed. The consultants then provided technical support to five GADs and used the methodological toolkit to identify relevant migration linkages within their PDOTs. The other technical assistance focused on updating the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility’s (MREMH) catalogue of services provided to migrants, while also broadening its focus to all migrants rather than returning migrants.
  • Madagascar: Two technical assistance efforts were conducted in Madagascar. One focused on integrating migration into the urban development plan of the Commune of Ambavalao. A consultant and a service provider were contracted to develop the urban development plan, which included analyzing the local migration situation and developing a full Guiding Urban Plan (PUDi). To address the needs identified, the consultant developed a local methodological guide. The other focused on integrating migration into the evaluation of two sectoral programmes for the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MAEP): the Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Sectoral Programme (PSAEP) and the National Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Investment Plan (PNIAEP). 
  • Nepal: The technical assistance in Nepal focused on assessing the COVID-19 impact on returning migrant workers and their communities Nepal– to help guide the response and recovery interventions of the Government and development partners (including donors). The assessment was conducted largely through telephone interviews and surveys in two provinces, reaching 800 respondents.

Funded by the European Union