Jorge Romero Leon
Which Way to a New Paradigm? Coordinating National and International Responses to
Effect Change in the Global Dialogue on Migration.
Abstract
The paper will explore the efforts to coordinate national and international advocacy strategies
by migrant and labor organizations, academics and international CSO's to promote migrant
empowerment and develop new terms of engagement of the international dialogue on
migration in the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) and beyond. Special
attention will be given to the challenges of coordinating quite distinct organizations and goals
at different levels, with different stakeholders; the lack of a sustained dialogue at the
international level, and the opacity of the government led Global Forum and parallel
international dialogue structures. On the basis of recent experience, the paper will present
lessons and recommendations for future engagement of international organizations and
national governments acting in bilateral and international fora, aimed at improving
coordination, enabling migrants’ voices and facilitating access to timely information with the
goal of enabling new and more effective advocacy strategies in the International High-Level
Dialogue on Migration and Development of 2013 and the dialogue mechanisms stemming
from it.