Episode 10: How to integrate migration into international cooperation and development

The Migration & Diaspora Podcast

Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a show in which we talk about anything and everything to do with migration; with me your host Loksan Harley.

Today, we are lucky to have with us Katy Barwise from the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) European Regional Office to talk about her and IOM's mission to "mainstream migration" into international cooperation and development, which broadly means taking into account the migration linkages within international development programmes and projects. Now if that still sounds like Greek or Chinese to you, do not worry because we'll explain all very shortly.

Katy is an unbelievably sharp and worldly programme manager who, before joining IOM Brussels in 2017, spent 12 years with the organisation in South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique and Australia (covering the Pacific). During that time, she developed and managed projects in the area of migration and health, diaspora engagement, labour migration, migration governance, migration and climate change, and community development. Katy holds a Master’s Degree in International Studies and Diplomacy and an undergraduate degree in African history, both from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, which, in my completely unbiased view (wink wink), is a fantastic school.

It's because of this rich and varied background that she is the ideal person to talk about the linkages between migration and development, and the linkages between migration and different development sectors. And by the way, when we say "development sectors" we're talking about areas of work within international development, like education, health, rural development, environment and climate change, and so on. It's worth mentioning here that part of Katy's brief is also to provide technical assistance and capacity building to strengthen policy coherence between migration and development policies, in particular in the framework of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda.

Just a quick disclaimer, I worked as a consultant to Katy's project for a good year and a half.

• Learn more about the “Mainstreaming Migration into International Cooperation and Development” (MMICD) Initiative implemented by IOM and funded by the EU:
  - Webpage: eea.iom.int/mmicd
  - Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/mmicd/
  - Twitter: twitter.com/IOMatEU (#MMICD, #MigrationConnection)
  
• Check out the series of videos developed under the MMICD Initiative that capture what integrating migration into development programmes means in practice for people and communities: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPbTEMLeBi2nFhYF7OAJZzLo5k5dpDg-b
  
• Read more about IOM’s work on migration and sustainable development: migration4development.org