Roundtable 1: How to make the migration-development nexus work for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
The aim of this roundtable is to explore the policies and practices that can make migration work for development in both sending and receiving countries. Three sets of topics will be discussed in this roundtable. The first issue concerns how the migration and development nexus can be made to work for development purposes. In particular, session 1.1 of this roundtable will discuss how to spread the benefits of migration more widely (source countries); which policies are better suited to strengthen and foster the sharing of the benefits of human development? (destination countries); how to ensure that migration policies are gender-sensitive (to women’s and men’s needs) (source and destination countries). Session 1.2 will examine the role of diaspora and migration organizations in development policies and programmes, their constraints and their opportunities. Session 1.3 will concentrate on the current economic crisis and its impact on migration and development. While, the interests and needs of migrants need to become integrated into policy responses aimed at economic recovery (e.g., anti-protectionism measures, stimulation of international trade, need for capital and credit etc.), human mobility may be part of the solution, not the problem.
Roundtable 2: Migrant integration, reintegration and circulation for development
Both scholarly and policy debates of the last three decades have paid increasing attention to the question of immigrant integration highlighting that integration is a mutual process, which requires efforts and adjustments both on the part of immigrants, and their societies of settlement. The aim of this Roundtable is to carry the academic and policy debate a step further by seeking to assess the development impact and potential of specific dimensions of migrant integration policies. Here, development is understood as human development encompassing economic, social and cultural aspects of people’s lives and activities. The different dimensions of integration affecting short term, circular and long term migrants will also be discussed. Special attention will be paid to gender issues. Re-integration will be explored with particular emphasis on the extent and ways in which the lack of reintegration measures in source countries may negatively affect their development efforts and plans. The matching between circular migration and labour market shortages will also be discussed.
Roundtable 3: Policy and Institutional Coherence Partnerships
The conclusions of the previous GFMDs note that the availability of latest data and research findings is critical in ensuring continued government action in the field of policy coherence; and that policy-relevant data and research are closely inter-linked with policy coherence between migration and development. Therefore, discussions held in the GFMD context should be informed by the latest data and findings of experts and researchers in the field of migration and development. Moreover, the need for coherence has been underlined repeatedly, as well as the need for useful and meaningful assessment mechanisms.
In this context, Roundtable 3 focuses on concrete measures and the latest state of the art practices in the areas of policy and institutional coherence, including: data collection and research; the contribution of regional (inter and intra) processes; and the future of CSD in the GFMD.
Roundtable 4: Building Alliances: Private Sector Engagement with other Civil Society actors
International migration involves multiple stakeholders, each with a distinct perspective on the challenges and opportunities that arise from the movement of people across borders. The needs and decisions of these actors – including governments, businesses, and community associations – largely drive migration trends. But too often migration policies are designed in isolation without input from the full range of actors who have a stake in their outcomes. The CSD of the Global Forum on Migration and Development aims to create a platform for dialogue between these actors.
Previous Forums provided an opportunity for a variety of civil society representatives – including labor unions, migrant associations, non-governmental organizations, and academia – to discuss the most pressing issues surrounding international migration. Building upon this successful framework of cooperative interaction, the 2009 Civil Society Days will dedicate an interactive roundtable to the concerns of the private sector, which has been less visible at past Forums relative to other groups.
The private sector’s interests in international migration are clear. For businesses, access to human resources is a question of both survival and competitiveness – particularly in the context of the ongoing global economic crisis. Productive and innovative workers create an invaluable advantage for businesses, allowing them to grow and expand. Development is, perhaps, less of an immediate policy concern to the private sector. Rather, job creation and improving living standards are a consequence of private sector growth. As a result, many policymakers in both developed and developing countries court businesses and seek to make their countries attractive to the private sector. In this regard, the private sector is a key linkage between migration and development: driving international migration and often leading to development.
This roundtable will allow representatives of the private sector the unique opportunity to engage directly with other civil society actors on specific policy concerns and to seek to forge a common agenda on issues related to migration and development. The session would aim to identify where the private sector and broader civil society share both common interests and a mutual willingness to advocate for policy change. A planned interface session with governments would then allow roundtable participants to engage policymakers on this common agenda. In addition, private sector and civil society actors could aim to define non-policy related goals that they could seek to advance together.
To read the background paper for the Roundtable 4, please click here.
Papers written both by private sector and other civil society stakeholders will form the initial basis of the roundtable discussion.
For more information read the full version of the concept note.