SUMMARY REPORT
Migration and Development Series
Mainstreaming Migration into Development Planning
Organized jointly with IOM, UNFPA and the MacArthur Foundation
28 November 2011
United Nations Headquarters, New York
BACKGROUND
The current international debate on Migration and Development (M&D) strives to highlight the positive
repercussions that an orderly management of the migration phenomenon may have on the economic
and social systems of the countries in which migrants and their families decide to relocate. If migration is
factorized properly in countries where this phenomenon is relevant, the policy planning must take into
account norms and policies that may allow migrants to contribute actively to the society hosting them.
Despite the increasing knowledge of the direct relationship between positive migrant contribution and its
surrounding political and social systems, migration remains often a corollary aspect of national policy
planning. Economic, welfare and political systems do not grant migrants the necessary attention and
measures are often uncoordinated, lacking proper scope and efficiency or not adequately tailored to the
real situation of the country. In light of these shortcomings, the international community is increasingly
recognizing the necessity of mainstreaming migration issues into the development and planning and
national policies on a vast array of issues and objectives.
OBJECTIVES
This half-day seminar was organized in the context of the activities organized by the Global Forum on
Migration and Development and the annual work plan of the Global Migration Group (GMG) which
established a Working Group on Mainstreaming Migration into National Development Strategies. This
seminar was the occasion to familiarize the New York diplomatic community with the concept and
practical implementation of the mainstreaming exercise. Further, it was an opportunity to strengthen
public awareness of the GMG Handbook on Mainstreaming Migration into Development Planning, a
methodological guide initiated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and developed by
the GMG with the aim of providing guidance to policy makers throughout the mainstreaming migration
process. The seminar explored the following thematic areas:
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Explore the advantages of mainstreaming migration into development strategies as a means
to enhance the impact of migration benefits and reduce its challenges;
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Analyze measures and activities necessary to carry out successfully a mainstreaming
migration exercise at the preparatory, implementation and evaluation levels;
Explore the added value of the Mainstreaming Handbook;
Present best practices and lessons learned drawing from past and on-going mainstreaming
migration experiences.
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION
Ms. Sarah Rosengaertner, Migration and Development Specialist, Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP,
discussed how mainstreaming brings systemic attention to migration and development linkages at the
policy and institutional level and in development partnerships. At the policy level, mainstreaming
facilitates a comprehensive analysis of the inter-linkages between migration and human development,
identifies policy objectives and ensures coherence among relevant policy areas and interventions. At the
institutional level, mainstreaming ensures coordination and cooperation between different ministries,
engages all relevant levels of governance, and facilitates the institutionalization of regular multistakeholder consultations, including non-governmental actors. In terms of development cooperation,
mainstreaming aligns development assistance with national migration and development priorities,
secures support for capacity development, and promotes coherence in development assistance
strategies.
She also introduced the GMG Handbook as a pilot project on mainstreaming migration into national
development strategies, implemented by UNDP, IOM and GMG partners. She highlighted the usefulness
of the GMG handbook that provides an overview of the inter-linkages between migration and key
development sectors, such as health, education, employment and environment. The manual also lays out
different phases of the development planning process from situation analysis to final evaluation and
explains how migration can be taken into account at each stage.
Ms. Barbara Affolter, Policy Advisor Migration and Development at Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation, briefly discussed the importance of developing the concept of Migration and Development.
She remarked that, for years, significant efforts and money have been invested to implement a concept
which has not been sufficiently contextualized and systematized. In this sense, “mainstreaming”
migration into development strategies is about contextualizing concepts and analyzing the whole system.
Ms. Affolter also pointed out that since many governments do not understand the notion of
mainstreaming and take migration as one of many public sector policies, we should consider and
integrate migration-related issues in all sectoral policies. She emphasized that migration is something
that development agencies should necessarily work on because it is a critical and decisive factor for the
development of a country. Raising awareness is important in that it makes the governments more
conscious about the links between migration and national policies. Yet, raising awareness will only bring
results if there is a sound basis for mainstreaming migration into the national policies. Isolated programs
will lead to poor results.
Further, migration covers two areas: one area focusing on forced migration, refugees, internally displaced
persons, victims of human trafficking, and mixed migration flows; and another area focusing on labor
migrants. She highlighted that we cannot separate these two areas, because human trafficking and labor
migration are overlapping when there is violation of human rights and abuse, and protracted refugee
procedures require development responses. Thus, forced migration should also be included into the
mainstreaming agenda.
To conclude, she stressed that migration should not be considered as a separate category, as this does
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not correspond to reality and that migration should be mainstreamed in both humanitarian aid and
development cooperation approaches.
H.E. Mr. Carlos D. Sorreta, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Philippines to the
United Nations, presented the policy and experience of the Philippines on mainstreaming migration into
development planning. There are 11 million Filipino migrants, i.e. 10% of the total Filipino population.
The country started to set up a legal and institutional structure to ensure the protection, safety and
welfare of Filipino migrants in 1973. He discussed the government’s efforts in four development-planning
areas: investment, philanthropy, education, and return and reintegration.
 Investment: The government has implemented several investment programs. “Diaspora
investment” is a program where new financial instruments are developed and promoted for
overseas Filipinos to invest in. The Business Advisory Circle Program assists overseas Filipinos in
building linkages and business partnerships in the Philippines. “Tourism initiatives” focus on
supporting the drive to encourage overseas Filipinos to invest in small to medium tourism
enterprises, as well as to visit as tourists. The government also implements a policy of income tax
exemption, no matter where the overseas Filipinos work. Furthermore, the “Overseas Filipinos
Remittances for Development” program reviews and develops policies that would facilitate the
use of remittances for productive and job-creating investments.
 Philanthropy: “Diaspora Philanthropy” focuses primarily on facilitating donations in cash or in kind
for development projects that benefit local communities. Also, the government provides basic
health services and development assistance to overseas local communities through overseas
Filipino networks.
 Education: In terms of education, continuing education programs including skills training, business
and money management have been implemented. Alay Dunong (Offered Knowledge)
systematizes and strengthens the skills and technology exchange/transfer. Balik-Turo (Return to
Teach) encourages returning academics and professionals to teach and work with universities to
strengthen and enhance the academic programs of partner schools. Also, in the program called
Balik-Scientist (Returning Scientist), grants are given to overseas Filipino scientists to spend time
in the Philippines teaching or working with local scientists.
 Return and Reintegration: Reintegration focuses on providing returning overseas Filipinos with
information and facilitating services for a successful reintegration into local life. In this regard,
livelihood and housing programs, a returning Filipino retirement program, a program focused on
the portability of social security and health insurance, and a displacement assistance program
have been implemented.
Ms. Toni Shae Freckleton, Acting Manager, Population and Health Unit, Social Policy, Planning and
Research Division, Planning Institute of Jamaica, presented Jamaica’s experience in the field of migration
mainstreaming. Jamaica developed “Vision 2030 Jamaica”, a long-term national development plan
designed to help Jamaica achieving developed country status by 2030. The issue of international
migration was incorporated into Goal 6, their “Population Sector Plan”. She highlighted that rather than
developing a policy that addresses only migration issues in an ad-hoc manner, it is central and strategic to
develop a policy framework that addresses the issues of international migration within the context of
development benefits that can be reaped from such a policy. As a part of the plan, in 2011, Jamaica
launched three projects supported by IOM: 1) IOM 1035 Facility 2) the GMG handbook on
“Mainstreaming Migration in National Development Strategies” 3) the EU-LAC project that seeks to
develop a Migration Profile and capacity building to improve the government’s management capacities in
terms of data collection and maintenance and update of the migration profile.
Jamaica has been focusing on three aspects of policy development: evidence-based data to inform policy,
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inter-institutional policy coherence and coordination, and capacity building. Once these policies are
developed, Jamaica will complete the next three steps – resource mobilization, implementation, and
monitoring and evaluation.
To improve the collection of evidence-based data, Jamaica is in the process of undertaking an Extended
Migration Profile. This will include training and building the capacity of stakeholders to maintain and
update this database. Members of the academic community have undertaken studies focusing on
different areas of migration and development. Improvement in evidence-based data will also help
Jamaica improve its capacity to monitor and evaluate the quality and progress of interventions in this
area. Besides this, the government has been trying to build local research capacity in the field, promote
research collaboration between diaspora and homeland researchers, improve the capacity of the
statistical offices and planning arms of government, and enhance cooperation and partnerships between
researchers and policy makers.
To enhance institutional policy coherence and coordination, Ms. Shae Freckleton emphasized that strong
political support from the government will ensure the promotion of the migration and development
agenda, with the national ownership necessary to initiate the project, a supportive government structure,
multi-stakeholder involvement, a vision, and a shared understanding of objectives. A National Working
Group on International Migration and Development comprising technical and programmatic experts from
the government, the private sector, NGOs and CSOs was established. The Working Group seeks to
improve the capacity of all stakeholders to identify, formulate and implement policy and program
objectives for migration and development and to ensure inter-institutional coherence among policy areas
and interventions with the aim of maximizing the benefits of migration.
The integration of migration and development is currently reflected in Vision 2030 Jamaica. Ms. Shae
Freckleton stressed that the development of a comprehensive policy and structure will ensure that this
integration takes root. She concluded her presentation emphasizing key challenges and drawing lessons
to carry out the workplan. Adequate staff support, recruitment of consultants, overcoming the current
limited understanding of the migration and development nexus, enhancing the migration profile and
situation analyses are needed for the effective implementation of the project.
Ms. Daniela Morari, Deputy Head of Unit, Political Cooperation with the European Union (EU), Moldova,
presented Moldova’s experience in mainstreaming migration into national development strategies.
According to various estimates, between 25 and 40% of the Moldovan labor force is engaged in or has a
migration experience, and this means every person or family in Moldova has been, in one way or another,
affected by migration. This is the reason why migration counts and requires mainstreaming.
She stressed that the Moldova 2020 Strategy under finalization has triangulated a significant amount of
data and already mainstreams migration within the framework of a nine year strategy. Moldova 2020
approaches migration from the points of view of human capital retention and the development of a new
economic growth model. It stipulates the move from a consumption-led economic growth, fuelled by
remittances, to an investment and innovation-led growth model, thereby creating more opportunities at
home to retain the labor force and reach the target to reduce youth emigration to 10%.
However, despite the fact that Moldova recently came second in a list of world top ten reformers in the
Doing Business 2012 report by the International Finance Corporation / World Bank, confidence among
potential entrepreneurs remains low, and especially among mobile migrants and diaspora members who
are not in touch with developments at home. She underscored that progress in the home country needs
to be advertized to encourage the investment of remittances back home. This move from an economic
regulatory framework to diaspora engagement is a good illustration of the meaning of “comprehensive”
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and “coherent” in a mainstreaming context.
Ms. Morari also presented the EU-Moldova mobility partnership, which represents the main tool for
mainstreaming migration into development planning, as well as the migration profile within the EUMoldova mobility partnership. The pilot mobility partnership, conceived as an open-ended instrument
based on political dialogue among 15 EU Member States, the European Commission, Frontex, and the
European Training Foundation, was concluded in 2008. Out of 70 initiatives, 23 have been implemented,
47 projects are under implementation and 10 new initiatives were launched this year. Based on the
recommendation of GFMD Athens 2009, Moldova tried to establish the migration profile as a strong
capacity building component geared towards achieving national ownership. The migrant profile is 1) a
data collection tool which identifies data gaps, enhancing data collection, analysis and sharing; 2) a
capacity-building tool which empowers the Government to take ownership of the regular updating of the
Migration Profile; 3) a policy tool promoting greater coherence and a more comprehensive approach to
migration planning and policies; and 4) a reference tool supporting the EU-Moldova Mobility Partnership,
which monitors and evaluates the impact of the implemented initiatives.
She concluded her intervention by presenting the preliminary results of the mobility project. This project
will enhance mainstreaming migration into development planning. Some of expected results are the
following: 1) the improvement of a special methodology designed to estimate the international migration
flows by using a database with information about border crossings; 2) the drafting by the Ministry of
Information Technology and Communication and the National Bureau for Statistics of new statistical
templates for international migration flows and the preparation of general population register according
to international standards; and 3) the strengthening of the capacities of the Integrated Informational
System in the field of migration and asylum, etc.
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