Organizational Structure

IOM has experienced rapid growth over the past ten years. Key indicators include:

  • Membership increased from 67 States in 1998 to 146 States in 2012 and continues to grow.
  • Total Expenditure increased from US$ 242.2 million in 1998 to US$ 1.3 billion in 2011.
  • Field locations1 increased from 119 in 1998 to more than 450 at present.
  • Active projects increased from 686 in 1998 to more than 2,700 at present.
  • Operational staff increased from approximately 1,100 in 1998 to more than 7,800 at present, almost entirely in the field.

IOM's structure is highly decentralized and has enabled IOM to acquire the capacity to deliver an ever-increasing number and diversity of projects at the request of its Member States. From 1 July 2011, IOM’s Field structure is composed of:

  • 8 Regional Offices (Dakar, Senegal / Pretoria, South Africa / Cairo, Egypt / San José, Costa Rica / Buenos Aires, Argentina / Bangkok, Thailand / Brussels, Belgium / Vienna, Austria) - whose key responsibilities are to formulate regional strategies and plans of action and to provide programmatic and administrative support to the countries within its region;
  • 2 Special Liaison Offices whose key responsibilities are to strengthen relations with multilateral bodies, Diplomatic Missions, and non-governmental organizations. These Offices are located in New York and Addis Ababa.
  • 2 Administrative Centres (Panama and Manila) whose key responsibilities are to provide core support in the areas of information technology and administrative services to IOM’s network of offices;
  • More than 240 Country Offices and Sub-offices worldwide whose key responsibilities are to analyse national migration issues and emerging trends and to plan, develop and implement projects and programmes to address these;
  • Among Country Offices, 6 Country Offices with Coordinating Functions (COCFs) have been identified as having the additional responsibility of ensuring that migratory realities within a defined cluster of countries are taken into account in programmatic activities of the region. The COCFs are located in Nairobi, Canberra, Bangkok, Rome, Astana and Guyana.
  • In addition, 4 Country Offices with Resources Mobilization Functions (CORMFs) have been identified as having the additional responsibility of resource mobilization functions by assisting in fundraising activities as well as providing advice on fundraising policies, priorities and procedures. These CORMFs are located in Tokyo, Berlin, Helsinki and Washington, D.C.

Projectization is used by IOM (similar to activity-based costing), where staff and office costs associated with implementing a project are charged to projects through a time-allocation concept referred to as projectization. Every activity in IOM is assigned a distinct project code. Every project is managed by a project manager to ensure that projects are monitored in a responsible, transparent and efficient manner.

Manila and Panama Administrative Centres: In order to achieve efficiencies and manage growth, IOM has embarked on an exercise to transfer certain functions from Headquarters and other high cost locations to lower cost locations. The Manila and Panama Administrative Centres (MAC and PAC) provide support in the areas of finance, information technology, staff security, project tracking, health and insurance, etc. Each Administrative Centre covers different geographical regions for most of its functional areas: PAC provides support to the Americas and Africa, and MAC provides support to the rest of the world. In the area of human resources management, the distribution differs since Manila’s HR Operations cover the administration of international staff members as well as local staff in Switzerland, while PAC’s Field Personnel Support Unit (PAC-FPSU) provides global HR support to local field personnel.

Total Funding: In 2011, more than 97 per cent of IOM's funding was in the form of voluntary contributions for projects. The remainder represents the administrative budget, funded from Member State contributions.

Lowest Rate of Administrative Support: To cover its indirect costs, IOM charges 5 per cent on total costs of projects for administrative support. IOM’s support costs are among the lowest of all international organizations.

March 2012

1 Field Location does not necessarily refer to offices as physical premises, but to presence of IOM staff.