Ashraf Abo Arafe
Reported by tICMPD, the joint EU-ICMPD MIgration EU eXpertise (MIEUX) Initiative is supporting the Ecuadorian Chairmanship of the 2019 Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), in hosting the two-day regional workshop “Harnessing Migration for Rural Development”, on 14 and 15 August in Kingston, Jamaica.
The second of a series of four regional workshops ahead of the Quito Summit in November will gather representatives from academia, national and local-level governments, International organisations and civil society to exchange experiences.
MIEUX is providing relevant European expertise and content support to the Government of Ecuador in relation to the GFMD 2019 process. Specifically, MIEUX is assisting Ecuador with organising a series of regional workshops that should not only contribute directly to the thematic round-tables of the Quito Summit and to the background papers, but also function as standalone events that advance the global debate on migration and development.
Through the exchange of experiences and practices from Africa, Asia, Europe and LAC, the workshop will explore how to enhance the positive and mitigate the negative effects of migration and remittances to encourage positive social change and build resilience for populations in rural areas.
As Mr. Oleg Chirita, Head of Programme, Global Initiatives, ICMPD stated, “Around the world, growing urbanisation and the concentration of economic activity in cities have driven internal migration from rural areas to cities for decades, creating a number of challenges. However, there a number of examples from around the world that prove migration and remittances can prove beneficial and contribute to sustainable development and resilient societies.”
Development strategies in many countries have tended to focus on preventing rural flight and stemming migration into overcrowded cities. Yet, as existing drivers –poverty, conflict, land degradation, food insecurity and discrimination – can be exacerbated by a changing climate and threatening to further undermine livelihoods that heavily depend on natural resources vulnerable to droughts, floods and other environmental impacts, governments may increasingly need to consider human mobility as part of rural resilience-building strategies.
This workshop in Kingston, Jamaica, will discuss the role of migration and remittances in the transformation of rural areas, including the impact on agriculture and related industries, as well as local employment opportunities and entrepreneurship in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In addition, it will explore options for policy makers at national and local levels to enhance positive and mitigate negative effects.
The workshop responds to one of the priorities of the Ecuadorian GFMD Chairmanship to engage regional stakeholders in meaningful dialogue ahead of the Quito Summit. A wide array of stakeholders, among which representatives from local and central governments, academia, civil society and international organisations, will gather to contribute through these discussions to the supporting documents for the Summit´s Round-table 3.2 “Harnessing migration for rural transformation and development” ” of the GFMD 2019 agenda.
