Making “MADE”

A Migration and Development Network that links civil society around the world

BRUSSELS, 14 March 2014 (ICMC) - It is always thrilling to start a new project, and even more so when that entails deepening collaboration with partners from all over the world. For ICMC and other civil society organizations working within ICMC’s new Migration And DEvelopment network, in short, “MADE”, much of the excitement comes from the opportunity to more consistently partner with and complement existing civil society groups. MADE will offer a sustainable means to support and to step up the effort of organizations that have already been developing synergies during activities of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) and at last year’s United Nations High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development< in New York.

With co-funding from the European Commission, ICMC Europe opened up a new office for these purposes in Brussels in January 2014.

Taking the lead is MADE Program Coordinator Wies Maas, who has worked with ICMC as senior programme manager on migration and development since 2011 in both Geneva and in New York.

Just back from Ecuador, where she worked with the Belgian Development Agency, and previously for the International Organization for Migration, Sophie van Haasen is the MADE Program Officer.

MADE communications is the responsibility of Silvana Enculescu, who previously spent three years at Mental Health Europe, working as Communications Manager.

Having been with ICMC Europe since 2011, Sophie Ngo-Diep, "shared" with other ICMC Europe projects, acts as MADE's European liaison officer.

As ICMC’s head of policy, John Bingham oversees MADE activities and acts as government and external relations manager, while ICMC Head of Europe Petra Hueck fulfils a similar role in relation to European institutions.

The MADE initiative builds upon the widening cooperation among hundreds of civil society groups all over the world the past years, in particular in the context of the GFMD. With more people than ever before moving to other countries, civil society must consistently and collectively step-up its global advocacy efforts and cooperation with governments, working to improve the well-being of the more than 232 million migrants, their families and societies. To promote more effective collaboration, MADE will connect and strengthen regional networks and thematic groups of civil society around the world. It will do so by working closely with existing civil society networks, such as the Global Coalition on Migration, Migrants Rights International, the PanAfrican Network in Defense of Migrants' Rights, the NGO Committee on Migration (CONGO) New York, and many other networks in Europe and beyond, with a goal of increasing the capacity and practice of organizations worldwide to act, interact and speak in a united voice. Driving forward civil society’s recommendations from the recent GFMD and the 5-year 8-point Action Plan civil society proposed to governments during the UN High-level Dialogue in October 2013, the MADE network will concentrate in particular on safe migration and reforming the migrant worker recruitment industry, as well as on migrants and diaspora as partners for human development in countries of origin, heritage and destination. It will also focus on promoting migration and migrants’ rightful place in the post-2015 agenda and on ensuring the protection of migrant rights, en route and in countries of destination.

While open to civil society organizations worldwide, MADE relies on a number of civil society partners who have committed to specific roles in the MADE network, with a view to enlarging and strengthening it: the African Diaspora Policy Center, leading MADE’s global working group on diaspora, migrants and development, Caritas Sénégal, coordinating the MADE Africa network, Cordaid, steering MADE’s global working group on the global governance of migration and development, Migrant Forum in Asia, directing both the MADE Asia network and MADE’s global working group on labour migration and recruitment, as well as the International Network on Migration and Development (INMD) and the Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN)(supported by Fundación Scalabrini Chile) ,together leading the MADE Americas network in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The MADE network will organize regional and thematic migration and development conferences before, during and after GFMD <annual meetings, will develop joint global and regional MADE newsletters, advocacy reports and campaigns, and promote online and offline exchange of practices and experiences. MADE will also make a small pilot seed fund available to civil society projects that aim to implement advocacy and policy actions on the ground in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. The MADE network will be publicly launched during the GFMD Civil Society Days< in Stockholm, Sweden on 12-13 May.

For more information on MADE click the PDF below. 

Intro to MADE March final.pdf (516.76 KB)