Mainstreaming: A matter of policy coherence

Migration cuts across a broad range of policy sectors and programmes, such as education, agriculture, urban planning and health. Maximizing the impact of migration on development, therefore, requires coordination and coherence across various policy areas. Such a process is often labelled mainstreaming migration into development planning. National development planning frameworks are crucial for concrete and sustainable progress. They allow policymakers to adapt global objectives and challenges to the national context. The strategies developed, then, become suited to the concrete needs and desires of specific countries. Take, as an example, a poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP). Mainstreaming migration into this planning means taking migration into account when assessing each of the interventions planned by, and each of the policy areas addressed by, the PRSP.

Policy Approaches
Integrating migration in relevant policy areas
  • Identify specific policy areas requiring policy coherence with migration.
  • Establish coordination, planning and review mechanisms between the relevant policy sectors.
  • Acquire data and knowledge on the linkages between migration and other policy areas.
  • Include considerations of links and consequences between policy sectors, as well as their links with migration. For instance, if agricultural reforms do not consider their potential effect on migration dynamics (such as creating rural to urban movement), then this will directly impact the outcomes of urban planning, but also of the labour market in cities.
Good Practice
Coordinated national approach to mainstreaming migration into development planning

Costa Rica has a 10-year framework for a Comprehensive Migration Policy (2013–2023), which addresses human mobility by enhancing the inclusion of migrants in its territory. In particular, the Canton of Upala shares a border with Nicaragua and has daily transfrontier movements of Nicaraguan people working, studying or accessing the health system.

Upala has pioneered a local development plan in which migration is a central focus, with an inclusive and rights-based approach, which has been extended not only to the local population, including resident migrants, but also to the transborder population, fostering entrepreneurship, facilitating access to credit and promoting training programmes for women’s empowerment.

This project has been successful because it has created awareness on the importance of mainstreaming migration into development planning. It has done so through:

  • An inclusive and rights-based approach;
  • Consulting with transfrontier and local populations to assess their needs and the potential for development;
  • Involving from early on institutional and private actors and civil society stakeholders.

Because of its success, the Upala model is being scaled up, and is currently taken as a model to be exported and adjusted to different border areas of Costa Rica.

To Go Further
Mainstreaming: The process

Mainstreaming is about seeking coherence among policies that impact migration, and that are impacted by migration. Ultimately, one way to do this is to adopt a whole-of-government approach to migration. The exercise should be considered a process rather than a project. As the link between migration and sustainable development is highly context dependent, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to mainstreaming. Migration can be mainstreamed into a variety of processes or policies, such as a single specific policy area, multi-year development planning, cross-government strategies, United Nations development frameworks and so on.

The 2030 Agenda offers a crucial chance to connect the impact of migration with a whole range of development issues because of its global reach. It offers a chance to better understand how specific policies can impact migration and migrants and vice versa. It calls on policymakers and practitioners to adopt a holistic approach and integrate migration into solutions that span all policy sectors. Indeed, the 2030 Agenda invites proactive, multi-stakeholder collaboration to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to leave no one behind. It insists that we give full consideration to migrants and to migration in all sustainable development efforts (Riallant, 2019).

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Source

IOM, 2016.

Mainstreaming migration will improve government efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda. These efforts should also be at the heart of the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration which is based on cross-cutting and interdependent guiding principles, including “sustainable development” and a “whole-of-government approach” that requires “coherent and comprehensive responses” in recognition that “migration cannot be addressed by one government policy sector alone” (paragraph 15).

Although the mainstreaming process can take different forms, there are required steps and elements that need to be present, which will unfold over a relatively long period. The mainstreaming process can take several years to implement. For this reason, it should be considered a process rather than a project. The United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) assists Member States to implement national development planning and provides a framework of four years for the entire process. However, due to current developments in technologies and new means of communications, a more speedy process is possible.

Table
Table 2. The mainstreaming process

PREPARATORY PHASE

  • During the preparatory phase, a mandate from the government is required to legitimize the mainstreaming process, raise awareness and establish migration and sustainable development committees.

SITUATION ANALYSIS
  • Establish a team of migration and sustainable development experts.
  • Appoint a senior government official as the focal point to lead the mainstreaming process. Ideally, this person should have the legitimacy to convene inter-ministerial consultations.
  • The focal point establishes an inter-ministerial working group focusing on a specific policy or legal framework as well as international obligations and commitments related to migration.
  • Provide the working group with existing studies and data sources on the link between migration and the specific policy sectors.
  • The working group produces a draft national plan of action and/or to provide capacity development activities related to data and other effective means to monitor migration impacts on development.

STRATEGIC GOALS
  • Identify key government actors (that is, ministries and administrative bodies at all levels of government) and external stakeholders (such as civil society or international organizations).
  • Hold an awareness-raising campaign to explain the broad objectives of the mainstreaming process and to encourage the participation of key stakeholders while ensuring diversity and equal representation.
  • Bring together identified actors to identify priorities and strategic goals.

PLAN OF ACTION
  • Establish a national consultative platform on migration and development, typically composed of not only government institutions but also nongovernmental actors.
  • Organize a national consultative workshop to discuss the results of the situation analysis and define strategic objectives. This step ensures a common understanding among all relevant stakeholders.
  • Based on the workshop, draft a plan to mainstream migration into development policy (“a plan of action”), including strategic objectives, beneficiaries, accountability, resources and timing, decentralized mechanisms and coordination between different levels of governance (national and subnational). The policy can stand alone or can be integrated into existing frameworks or a specific sectoral policy.
  • Review the plan of action through a consultative process, for instance with the national consultative platform. Following the review, the plan will be adopted.

SUSTAINABILITY
  • Evaluate technical and capacity needs through joint workshops, study visits, trainings, peer-to-peer learning, conferences and so on.
  • Increase the capacity of institutions that are not traditionally involved with migration, while increasing the capacity of migration-specific institutions on non-migration issues. This way, coordination among ministries is more effective.
  • Establish a funding plan and the institutionalization of the policy and its components.

MONITORING & EVALUATION
  • Establish a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework to determine the following:
    • Is migration adequately integrated among different policy sectors and government levels?
    • How does the policy contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
    • Are stakeholders at the national/subnational levels supporting the implementation of the policy?
    • How are policy trade-offs and spillovers identified and addressed?
    • How are synergies created and maintained?
    • What transboundary impacts (such as international dialogue or cooperation) are initiated based on the assessment?
  • Depending on the governmental structure of a particular State, policy changes may need to be codified in various ways, including through legislative or regulatory implementation.
To Go Further
Policy Approaches
Mainstreaming migration into development planning

At the end of one cycle, success is determined by the institutionalization of the process. While the details can vary, the mainstreaming process always implies:

  • A legitimate mandate by the government;
  • A leading institution (the core team);
  • A knowledge base (the situation analysis);
  • Early involvement of various stakeholders, to ensure endorsement and ownership;
  • The creation of consultative mechanisms and bodies (including a national committee);
  • Capacity-building;
  • Monitoring and evaluation;
  • Connect migration mainstreaming efforts with the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Global Compact for Migration.
Key messages
  • Mainstreaming migration into policy planning means designing policies that acknowledge how migration is interlinked with other policy areas.
  • Mainstreaming aims to enhance policy coherence, establishing sound cross-sectoral coordination mechanisms, recognizing the diversity of stakeholders and engaging them throughout the process.
  • Mechanisms to mainstream migration into policy planning vary according to the context. They can only be developed after a sound understanding of the realities of migration.
  • Partnerships are key in establishing mainstreaming mechanisms.
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