Posted on November 29, 2011

MacArthur Foundation Awards More Than $1 Million to Improve Governance of Global Migration

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced grants totaling more than $1 million to four organizations working to improve governance with respect to international migration flows.

Announced in conjunction with the MacArthur-sponsored 2011 Global Forum on Migration and Development, the grants include $375,000 to the International Catholic Migration Commission in Geneva to establish an office that will coordinate among diverse civil society groups and the Swiss government, which is hosting this year's forum; $316,000 to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in New York City to support the activities of the special representative of the secretary-general on international migration and development related to the forum; and $300,000 to Migration Rights International, also headquartered in Geneva, to form a Global Coalition on Migration that will seek to enhance engagement by civil society groups with the forum and other inter-governmental discussions of international migration issues. In addition, the foundation awarded $75,000 to UN Women in support of its efforts to organize regional consultations in Ghana and Jamaica that address legal and social protections for migrant domestic care workers.

"Since 2007, the Global Forum on Migration and Development has done much to enhance understanding and cooperation around international migration issues with the ultimate goal of improving the lives of migrants," said John Slocum, director of global migration and human mobility at the MacArthur Foundation. "As the forum matures, MacArthur's latest round of support is aimed at sustaining the engagement and impact of civil society in the forum and in migration issues more broadly."