United States - On 3 May 2017 the UN Migration Agency (IOM) signed an agreement with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) to launch a new two-year project in Ghana and Ethiopia. The project is aimed at strengthening migration governance to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

IOM will implement the Integrating Migration into National Development Plans: Towards Policy Coherence and the Achievement of the SDGs at National and Global Levels project, funded by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Sub-Fund. The funding is part of a commitment announced by the People’s Republic of China during the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015.

The project will support policy formulation, fostering a whole-of-government approach to accelerating progress on implementation of the SDGs. IOM and its partners will work together to develop coherent national SDG strategies; enhance coordination across governments; develop capacities to collect data; plan, implement, monitor and evaluate progress on national SDG indicators.

This project will draw on IOM’s substantial technical experience in mainstreaming migration at the national level. It will build upon the lessons learnt from a joint IOM-UNDP project Mainstreaming Migration into National Development Strategies, which enabled eight countries and their UN Country Team partners to develop a context specific, evidence-based, participatory approach to migration and development.

“IOM looks forward to strengthening collaboration with our Ghanaian and Ethiopian government counterparts, as well as partner UN agencies, to ensure migration issues are well integrated into national planning, and that migration is for the benefit of all and a choice rather than a desperate necessity,” stated Ashraf El Nour, Director of IOM’s Office to the United Nations in New York.

For further information, please contact Lanna Walsh at IOM New York, Tel. +1 212 681 7000 ext. 263, Email: lwalsh@iom.int