Swiss groups join international meeting to prepare for this year's GFMD in Geneva

Some 100 participants from Swiss civil society organizations, international non-government and labour groups, international agencies, governments and academia are gathering for a two-day “joint reflection” on issues of migration and development, in the lead-up to the annual Global Forum on Migration Development (GFMD) that the government of Switzerland is organizing in Geneva at yearend.

The meeting is being organized at and by the Graduate Institute of Geneva on August 23 and 24, in partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Geneva-based International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), who the Swiss government has appointed to coordinate global civil society activities related to this year’s GFMD.  The event offers a platform for government officials of sending and receiving countries, representatives from UN and intergovernmental organizations, and civil society to discuss current and future issues, challenges and practices regarding migration and development. Discussions at the symposium are informal and encourage common reflection among experts and actors, through roundtables and open debate on the subjects of Labour Mobility and Development; Gender, Family, Migration and Development; Irregular Migration and Development as well as Policy and Institutional Coherence. It will also consider how governments and Civil Society can improve the GFMD in the years to come.

The joint reflection is structured around two tracks.  First, a common floor gathers all stakeholders to exchange ideas, with the subjects framed by academic experts and practitioners who present key issues and perspectives on the topics for discussion. In that it fosters the exchange of ideas to feed into a fruitful and collaborative debate for the 2011 Civil Society Days on 29-30 November and the GFMD 2011 Concluding Debate on 1-2 December to be held in Geneva.

Second, the roundtables further devote special attention to the process of consultation and collaboration between the Swiss Civil Society and the Swiss government. A special role is indeed given to the Swiss Civil Society: half of each day is devoted specifically to reflection among Swiss NGO organizations. This approach aims to connect Swiss contexts and perspectives with the global debate on migration and development.  Specific objectives are 1) to strengthen the relationship, consultation process and cooperation among the different organizations and with the Swiss government; 2) to improve the knowledge, awareness and engagement of Swiss civil society with migration and development issues in general as well as with the GFMD process 3) to exchange ideas with actors of international civil society and 4) to participate in the search for solutions and policy-building at global levels, in 2011 and beyond.

One concrete outcome of the meeting is the drafting of a set of recommendations by Swiss civil society organizations to be presented to Swiss government officials and to the GFMD at yearend. Those recommendations, produced by the participating Swiss organizations, will be based on preliminary work by a group of Swiss organizations including the Fédération genevoise de cooperation/A la vista! Communication Sociale, the Forum pour l’Intégration des migrants et migrantes, the Graduate Institute - Geneva, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation and the Fondation Terre des hommes-aide à l’enfance.

For further information or interviews:

• about the meeting and the engagement of Swiss civil society:
  Jérôme Elie (Programme for the Study of Global Migration, Graduate Institute) jerome.elie@graduateinstitute.ch,  tel. +41 22 908 62 56
• about the GFMD civil society programme in general:  John Bingham (ICMC), bingham@icmc.net, tel + 41 22 919 10 25

The detailed programme and related documents are available online here.