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Addressing Drivers and Facilitating Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in the Contexts of Disasters and Climate Change in the IGAD Region
Location: The region comprising of Member States of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development – IGAD (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda)
Coordinating Agency: International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Technical co-leads: IOM, International Labour Organization (ILO)
Participating UN Organizations: IOM, ILO, Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) - hosted under the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Implementing Partners: Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC)
Donor: Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF)
Duration: 30 months, 18 February 2021 - 18 August 2023
Programme Summary
In the African continent, the IGAD region is considered one of the most vulnerable to climate variability and change and two thirds of the region are arid or semi-arid. The different forms of human mobility to, from, and within the IGAD region reflect the range of complex drivers and structural factors that can compel people to leave their places of origin. The region regularly faces a wide range of natural hazards, most commonly severe droughts and floods, but also landslides, earthquakes, and tropical cyclones, as well as slow-onset climate change effects, such as sea level rise, environmental degradation, and changing rainfall variability. Disasters linked to natural hazards, environmental degradation, and the adverse effects of climate change are amongst the most important and overlapping drivers of human mobility. Individual migration decisions are often based on a combination of these environmental and other economic, political, social, and demographic drivers.
In light of the projected population growth, with continued environmental change and degradation, and an increase in the frequency and/or intensity of disasters associated with climate change, it is anticipated that the number of people migrating and of people at risk of displacement will increase. The potential positive role that labour migration can play in climate change adaptation and risk mitigation is at times weakened by the lack of linkages and coherence between migration and labour market policies and practices, including labour market information and jobs and skills matching of nationals and migrants. Few legal labour migration channels between countries are open for low-skilled migrants and refugees from rural communities in the region. Despite the challenges, there is growing recognition of the potential for job creation and livelihood opportunities linked to climate change adaptation and mitigation.
The overall objective of this joint programme was to contribute to facilitating pathways for regular migration in the IGAD region and minimizing displacement risk in the context of climate change, environmental degradation and disasters in line with the vision and guiding principles of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). In particular, the joint programme improved regional and national migration governance in the context of the adverse impacts of climate change and environmental degradation through different actions that each addressed the relevant objectives of the GCM and contributed to the implementation of other relevant international instruments, notably Target 10.7 under Sustainable Development Goal 10, the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement under the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.
The action addressed four identified challenges of human mobility in the context of disasters, the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation in the region:
- The need to generate data to better map, understand, predict and address migration movements and the risk of displacement;
- The inclusion of disasters, the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation in national and regional migration and mobility policies, and as part of climate change and disaster preparedness strategies, including via national coordination mechanisms and through cooperation with neighboring countries;
- The need to strengthen preparedness and response capacity and coordination, through regional, sub-regional and bilateral cooperation;
- The need to support implementation of regional and national human mobility frameworks to enhance availability and flexibility of pathways for regular migration, and for those displaced in the context of disasters, the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation, particularly female migrants.
The project consisted of four main results areas (pillars) that addressed these challenges:
- PILLAR I: Data and knowledge
- PILLAR II: National and regional policy frameworks
- PILLAR III: Disaster displacement preparedness
- PILLAR IV. Regular migration pathways
You can find an infosheet on this joint programme here, and an infosheet on Environment and Climate Change in the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) here.
The joint programme was designed and implemented in close partnership between Participating UN Organizations (PUNO): IOM, ILO, UNOPS - PDD, UNHCR and their implementing partners IGAD and ICPAC. IOM discharged the function of being the convening UN Organization, coordinated the joint programme while IOM and ILO were technical co-leads.
Programme Achievements
You can read more about this programme's achievements here.
The Programme Policy Brief can also be found here.
Final external evaluation
A final external evaluation was conducted to assess “How well did the programme perform towards enhancing the implementation of the GCM while aligning with the GCM principles?" It was conducted by the Migration Policy Institute and Axiom Monitoring and Evaluation between March 20 and August 18, 2023, using a non-experimental design with remote and in-person data collection with 55 key informants. The evaluation assessed the programme across six criteria (relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability), as well as its alignment with GCM guiding principles.
The final evaluation report can be found here, and the evaluation brief can be found here.
The webinar linked to the publication of this external evaluation, organized by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), can also be watched here.
Key messages on Regular Migration Pathways and Migrant’s Protection
Find out more about regular migration pathways and migrant’s protection here.
Programme Newsletter
- Newsletter Year 2021
- Newsletter Q1 2022
- Newsletter Q2 2022
- Newsletter Q3 2022
- Newsletter Q4 2022
- Newsletter Q1-Q2 2023
Programme Updates
May 2021: Organized the event "Launch of the Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund Regional Joint-Programme: Addressing Drivers and Facilitating Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in the Contexts of Disasters and Climate Change in the IGAD Region".
- See the event details
- Watch the event recording
February 2022: Organized the event "Human Mobility and Regular Migration pathways - Consultative Forums", together with key partners.
- Further details regarding the Consultative Forums can be found here
May 2022: Organized the event "Promoting Partnerships, Governing Migration: Experiences from the IGAD Region on GCM Implementation in a Changing Climate", a side-event at the International Migration Review Forum 2022
- See the event details
- Watch the event recording
August 2022: Organized the side event "ACW 2022 Side-Event: Human Mobility and Green Economy Development in a Changing Climate in West and East Africa" during Africa Climate Week 2022.
- See the event details.
- A summary of this side event can be found here.
November 2022: Organized the side event "Enhancing partnerships, inclusive sustainable development and green economy transition - Approaches from the IGAD region addressing the challenges and opportunities of human mobility" at the Climate Mobility Pavilion at COP27 in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt.
- See the event details.
- A summary of this side event can be found here.
March 2023: Organized the regional workshop "Human Mobility and Regular Migration Pathways in Changing Climate – Regional Workshop" to engage policymakers in the IGAD region with knowledge, experience or interest in the intersection of human mobility, protection, green economy and climate change.
- See the event details.
- Key messages from this workshop can be found here.
Displacement Risk Profiles
The Joint Programme has supported the development of key studies as an innovative solution to addressing risk modelling. These include:
Articles
- Summary Report: Integration of human mobility in Green Economy and related policies in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region
- Migration Policy Practice
- Read the chapter "Integration of human mobility in the green economy and related policies in the IGAD region", published in the latest Migration Policy Practice (Vol. XII, Number 1, February 2023).
- This article builds from the Summary Report above.
- FMR Issue 69 - Developing Partnerships in the IGAD Region
- You can read the report here.
Contact:
Ms. Lisa Lim Ah Ken, IOM Regional Migration Environment and Climate Change Thematic Specialist for East and Horn of Africa llimahken@iom.int
Ms. Noora Makela, IOM Programme Coordinator, Nairobi, Kenya nkmakela@iom.int
Stories
Climate Change Adaptation: IOM Interventions on Drought Affecting ASAL Counties in KENYA
