Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – 20 February, 2020: Technical Experts from African Union Commission (AUC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), International Labour organization (ILO), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) Liaison Offices (East African Community, Economic Community of West African States, Economic Community of Central African States, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and Intergovernmental Authority on Development) met to discuss progress, challenges and opportunities in the implementation of the 3-year Priority Project of the AU-ILO-IOM-ECA joint Programme on Labour Migration Governance for Development and Integration in Africa (JLMP), which is funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). The overall objective of the project is to improve the governance of labour migration to achieve safer, orderly and regular migration in Africa as committed in relevant frameworks of the African Union (AU) and RECs, as well as international labour conventions and other cooperation processes.
The meeting highlighted the key achievements of the project in 2019 and the work plan for 2020 was reviewed, to keep stakeholders informed of key activities. On challenges, implementing partners noted the need for additional resources to respond to the growing needs identified during implementation of the project, i.e. more flexibility in the disbursement of funds, establishment of a Secretariat for the African Union Labour Migration Advisory Committee (AU-LMAC) to enhance the Committee’s capacity to implement its mandate. It was noted, that global and continental frameworks such as Agenda 2063, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), and Migration Policy Framework for Africa (MPFA) present opportunities for continued engagement towards realizing the project objectives.
“We appreciate project partners for their support to the AUC, and we need to continue to leverage existing processes at the global, continental, regional and national levels for the benefit of the project” said the JLMP Coordinator, Mr. Oumar Diop, who was representing the AUC Commissioner for Social Affairs. He further noted that the key achievements of the project so far include the finalization the second edition of the Labour Migration Statistics Report, the JLMP Labour Migration Capacity Building Strategy, and the JLMP Communication Strategy. Other achievements include operationalization of the Labour Migration Advisory Committee, installation of the Project Support Unit at the AUC, and roll out of capacity building activities for statisticians, employers and workers’ organizations.
On behalf of SIDA, Mr. Ibrahim Kasso, Programme Manager, Migration and Employment commended the work done so far and encouraged all stakeholders to work together to fast track the implementation rate of the project. “Improving the implementation rate of the project will be useful in the process of engaging more donors through results that have been achieved” he emphasized.
In addition, stakeholders agreed on the modalities and timelines for the mid-term evaluation of the project, which aims to assess the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of the JLMP Priority project. Participants also discussed modalities for the upcoming JLMP Steering Committee meeting and validation workshop of the JLMP Strategic Framework scheduled for 17-20 March 2020. The Steering Committee provides strategic policy direction to the project and comprises all JLMP initiatives. In conclusion, the project team was advised to leverage on the presence of the RECs Liaison Offices in Addis Ababa, to fast track implementation and ease responses from the Secretariats and Member States.
The JLMP Priority Project contributes to the 10-year Joint Programme on Labour Migration Governance and Integration, better known as JLMP, which is a long-term joint undertaking by African Union Commission (AUC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), International Labour Organization (ILO), United National Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), adopted by the AU Heads of State and Government in 2015 (Assembly/AU/20(XXIV).
For more information related to the meeting, please contact:
Mr. Oumar Diop, JLMP Support Unit Coordinator, African Union Commission | Email: DiopO@africa-union.org
Ms. Adaeze Emily Molokwu, Consultant, African Union Commission | Email: MolokwuA@africa-union.org
