strategic vision

Type:  Regional Consultative Proces on Migration (region covered: Africa)

Association with regional or multi-stakeholder organization: Southern African Development Community (SADC)

Established: 2000

Objectives

The Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa (MIDSA) creates a framework for a regular migration dialogue among the Member States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to enhance inter-state cooperation in an effort to improve migration governance through:

  • Discussion of migration issues among SADC Member States in an informal seeting, sharing experience and challenges, and finding solutions collectively, to improve migration management in the SADC region.
  • Promotion of the positive aspects of migration among SADC Member States; and
  • Development of regional institutional capacities to improve migration governance while strengthening the capacity of Governments to meet their migration challenges in a comprehensive, interactive, self-reliant and, ultimately, sustainable way.

Current Thematic Focus

Specific areas of focus include:

  • Border management
  • Combatting human trafficking
  • Combatting migrant smuggling
  • Irregular migration
  • Plow migration
  • Migrant health
  • Migrants' rights
  • Migration and development
  • Return and readmission
  • Migration governance
  • Unaccompanied migrant children / separated children

Chairing Country:

  • Current Chair: The Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Past Chair: Malawi (2022), Mozambique (2021), Tanzania (2020), Namibia (2019), South Africa (2017), Eswatini (2016)

Secretariat

  • IOM provides technical and administrative support to the MIDSA.
Members

Member States  (16 States)

  • Angola
  • Botswana
  • Comoros
  • Eswatini
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Lesotho
  • Madagascar
  • Malawi
  • Mauritius
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Seychelles
  • South Africa
  • Tanzania
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

Note: Founding Members: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Observers

Observer States (9 States)

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • Denmark
  • Netherlands, The
  • Norway
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom
  • United States of America

Observer Organizations (6 Organizations referred by MIDSA as "partner organizations")

  • African Union Commission 
  • International Labor Organization (ILO)
  • Save the Children
  • International United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
  • United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Meetings
  • November 7-10, 2022, Malawi, MIDSA Senior Officials Meeting “Strengthening Migration Management in Southern Africa through Scaling-up Interventions that Facilitate Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in Southern Africa”
  • October 25-28, 2021, Maputo, Mozambique, MIDSA Ministerial Meeting “Reviewing Approaches to Safe, Regular and Orderly Migration in the Context of COVID-19 in the Southern Africa Region”
  • June 25-28, 2019 Windhoek, Namibia, Senior Officials' and Ministerial Meetings, “Regional Migration Governance and Sustainable Development: Priorities for the Southern Africa Region”
  • September 11 - 13, 2018, Pretoria, South Africa, Senior Officials 'Meeting “Enhancing Migration Governance in the Southern Africa Region: Harnessing the Youth Dividend for Sustainable Development and Regional Integration” June 27-28, 2018, South Africa, Senior Officials' Meeting
  • September 2-4, 2017, Ezulwini, Eswatini, Ministerial Meeting "Addressing Mixed Migration in Southern Africa: Linking Protection, Immigration, Border Management and Labor Migration".
  • August 16-18, 2016, Gaborone, Botswana, Technical Meeting: Addressing Mixed Migration in Southern Africa: Linking Protection, Immigration, Border Management and Labor Migration ".
  • July 7-9, 2015, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Ministerial Meeting under the theme, “Addressing Mixed and Irregular Migration in the SADC region: Protection of the Unaccompanied Migrant Child”. FInal Declaration ( EN | FR | PR ).
  • June 30- July 2, 2014 - Lilongwe, Malawi, Senior Officials' Meeting under the theme, “Taking Stock of Efforts to Address Mixed and Irregular Migration” .
  • July 10-11, 2013 - Maputo, Mozambique, Ministerial meeting under the theme “Enhancing Labor Migration and in the SADC Region”.
  • August 27-29, 2012 - Balaclava, Mauritius, Technical Meeting to bring together Southern African Development Community (SADC) Permanent Secretaries responsible for issues of migration and their counterparts responsible for labor mobility. 
  • November 15-17, 2010 - Windhoek, Namibia, MIDSA Ministerial Conference on Migration through Regional Cooperation,
Documents

MIDSA Workshop Reports:

MIDSA Workshop Report and Recommendations:

Related Links
Contact information

Mr Wonesai Sithole 
Regional Policy and Liaison Officer
International Organization for Migration Mission in South Africa
E-mail: WSithole@iom.int
https://southafrica.iom.int/

Website
https://ropretoria.iom.int/