Policy makers and senior government officials from 15 Southern
African Development Community (SADC) countries will join global
experts in Cape Town on Monday 22nd September for a 3-day Migration
Dialogue for Southern Africa (MIDSA) workshop aimed at exploring
ways of managing migration to enhance development in the region.

Although the full impact of migration is yet to be determined in
Southern Africa, it is an important livelihood strategy throughout
the region, where intra-regional and extra-regional remittances are
one of the most important sources of household income. But the
perception of migration as a tool for development is still
relatively new.

The workshop, which is hosted by IOM and the Southern African
Migration Project (SAMP), with funding from the US State
Department’s Bureau for Populations, Refugees and Migration
(PRM), will support SADC member states’ efforts to integrate
migration policies into their national development strategies and
prepare them for participation at the Third Global Forum on
Migration and Development (GFMD) in Athens in November.

"Migration is an important factor in addressing the current
global economic crisis," says Hans-Petter Boe, IOM Regional
Representative for Southern Africa. "Migrants can make significant
contributions to the development of their home and host countries,
and national and international policies must take this into
account. Comprehensive partnerships among governments, the private
sector, migrants and host communities are important in addressing
the root causes of migration, protecting migrants and maximizing
the positive impacts of their movement," he notes.

The workshop will be opened by South Africa’s Deputy
Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba. Participants will include
SADC member state GFMD focal points, representatives of Ministries
of Labour and Employment, and officials in charge of National
Development Planning.

The workshop, which will be addressed by experts from the World
Bank, African Union, IOM, SAMP, and the African Diaspora Policy
Centre, will include roundtables on three themes to be addressed at
the upcoming GFMD:

• Making migration and development work for the achievement of
  the Millennium Development Goals.
• Migrant integration, reintegration and circulation for
  development.
• Policy and institutional coherence partnerships.

During two previous MIDSA workshops in Windhoek (2006) and
Victoria Falls (2007), SADC governments recognized the importance
of addressing migration in national and regional development
strategies, such as poverty reduction strategies.

But this has remained a challenge and this workshop is expected
to help SADC government officials to better understand the
migration and development nexus, and to explore best practices of
policies and programmes that take migration and development into
account.

It will also facilitate networking and coordination among SADC
ministries in charge of migration and development agendas, and help
them to identify and agree on key issues and challenges for further
discussion at the GFMD.

For further information, please contact:

Nde Ndifonka

IOM Pretoria

Tel: +27 71 689 9966

E-mail: "mailto:nndifonka@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">nndifonka@iom.int