4th Inter-Agency Committee (IAC) Meeting on 16th January 2025

4th Inter-Agency Committee (IAC) Meeting on 16th January 2025

The Sustainable Development Council (SDC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) convened the 4th Inter-Agency Committee (IAC) Meeting today to finalize the National Framework to Measure the Progress and Contribution of Migration towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Migration and development have a complex and dynamic inter-relationship with each other. While migration can contribute towards greater development of a country in many ways such as through decreasing poverty, improving human capital outcomes and enhancing its economic position, it can also challenge development through brain drain, relative deprivation, and increased vulnerability of migrants.

Accurate data helps identify gaps and opportunities for evidence-based policy and programmatic interventions and to ensure that migration is effectively integrated into national development strategies. By monitoring migration patterns, economic contributions, and social impacts, countries can promote inclusive growth, protect migrant rights, and address challenges, ensuring that migration contributes positively to sustainable development while leaving no one behind.

The National Framework being finalized is a critical step in recognizing the essential role that migration plays in achieving the SDGs and the country’s commitment to the Global Compact for Migration. To ensure the continuation, reliability, and usefulness of the Monitoring Platform, the framework goes beyond the technical aspects of mapping the existing national migration data and developing proxy/ national targets and indicators to fill the data gaps. It also focuses on capacity building for custodian agencies, periodic reviews, and proper dissemination of data and information.

The discussion also focused on the next steps with regard to the development of the Migration & SDGs Monitoring Platform (MSMP). The proposed platform would have significant potential to improve data collection, analysis, and reporting, thereby supporting evidence-based decision-making enabling users to access quantitative and qualitative data across eight modules such as Migration Insights, Economic Contributions, Education and Skill Development, Health & Well-being, Gender and Vulnerability, Infrastructure and Financial Inclusion, Labor Rights and Fair Recruitment, and Monitoring and Policy Integration.

The MSMP is expected to be launched by November 2025.