Mainstreaming migration for poverty reduction
I recently visited a number of countries on a monitoring mission for the joint IOM-UNDP Global Project on Mainstreaming Migration in National Development Strategies. Funded by Switzerland, this project is implemented in eight countries (Bangladesh, Ecuador, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Serbia and Tunisia) and provides some successful examples of how migration and development intertwine.
As a development organization, our role is to ensure that development issues such as governance, economic opportunities, conflict prevention, climate change adaptation, environmental management are embedded in the short, medium and long term support provided to migrants, displaced people, refugees and their host communities.
The number of migrants today is massive. Globally, there are 244 million people on the move, with over 65 million forcibly displaced mainly by conflicts and, on average, 22 million annually displaced by climate change, disasters and environmental degradation. The movement of people takes place worldwide. For example, every year, about 500,000 Bangladeshis leave their country to work abroad. Over 1.3 million Jamaicans live in the USA, Canada and the UK. Their remittances contribute over 16 percent of Jamaica’s GDP, according to the Caribbean Policy Research Institute.
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