Wies brings to ICMC a breadth of experience in the migration and development sector, having worked with the Hague Process on Refugees and Migration, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and policy makers within the African diaspora. Among her publications, she co-authored a November 2010 report entitled “The global governance of international migration: 15 years of intergovernmental recommendations and conclusions”. Most recently, Wies served the GFMD Support Unit as administrator of the “Platform for Partnerships”, a vehicle created by the Swiss government to bring states and other partners together on projects, programs and policies in the field of migration and development.

As Senior Programme Officer for activities related to Civil Society contributions to the GFMD, Maas will help lead the development and connecting of inter-regional and thematic activities, as well as the year-end convening of civil society within the process of this year’s Forum. She may be reached at maas@icmc.net< or by phone, + 41 22 919 10 38.

Wies will be joined by GFMD Program Officer, Andrés Morales, who will provide additional support towards the planning and realization of Civil Society activities feeding into this year’s Forum, with particular responsibility for events and logistics related to the year-end meeting in Geneva.

Andrés holds a Masters in International Negotiation and Policy Making from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and has a strong background in education and capacity-building activities. In addition to migration-centred work with national societies of the Red Cross/Red Cresent Movement in the North Africa region, Andrés was formerly responsible for the coordination of non-formal education programmes and related cooperation agreements among the 161 member countries of the World Organization of the Scout Movement. He may be reached at morales@icmc.net< or by phone, + 41 22 919 10 26.

The Global Forum on Migration and Development is a state-led, voluntary process dedicated to dialogue on issues where migration and development intersect. Last year, participants included government officials from 131 countries, as well as 400 delegates and observers from a range of civil society organizations in 73 countries, representing non-government and faith-based organizations, labour and trade groups, migrant associations, academia and the private sector.

The 2011 GFMD programme is set to include a number of smaller, focused meetings around the world, the recommendations from which are slated to feed into global discussions expected to take place in Geneva during the last week of November.

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For more information, please contact:

ICMC Communications
Alanna RYAN
T: +41 22 919 10 20
E: ryan@icmc.net<