Cairo, 14 March 2017 – IOM facilitated a two-day (13-14/3) study visit to Berlin, Germany, for seven Egyptian government officials. The objective was to help them to better mainstream migration data into national development plans.

The delegation met with researchers at IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) and the German authorities to discuss the importance of migration data collection, sharing and analysis to inform policy development.

The group included representatives from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the Ministry of Manpower, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

GMDAC Director Dr. Frank Laczko noted the importance of mainstreaming migration data into national development data plans and its role in the implementation of well-managed migration policies. He elaborated on GMDAC’s contribution to the monitoring of migration-related targets within the Sustainable Development Goals framework, in particular Target 10.7 which focuses on countries’ need to implement planned and well-managed migration policies, but also in regards to the targets relating to health, poverty and women.

During the visit, the Egyptian officials also met with representatives of the German Federal Office of Statistics and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. They also learnt about how migration data is collected and analysed to inform effective labour migration policies in Germany.

“This study visit complements a series of ongoing activities which aim to advance the efforts of the Government of Egypt to develop and implement evidence-based policies on migration, with a particular focus on human mobility,” said Teuta Grazhdani, Head of Labour Mobility and Human Development at IOM Egypt.

The visit addressed the Egyptian government’s priorities as outlined in the National Strategy on Combating Irregular Migration for 2016-2026 and the Action Plan on Strengthening International Cooperation and Coordination and Building the Human, Institutional and Information Capacity of Relevant Stakeholders on Labour Migration and Human Mobility to address data gaps on key migration policy issues.

IOM’s support in building the capacity of CAPMAS on migration data analysis and management complements IOM’s contribution to the Global Compact on Migration (GCM).  It will be underpinned by dissemination of migration data and statistics to inform evidence-based policies in Egypt.

The visit was implemented under regional IOM project: “Addressing irregular migration flows and upholding human right of migrants along the North-Eastern African Migration Route and North Africa – NOAH IV”, funded by the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

For further information, please contact Teuta Grazhdani at IOM Egypt. Tel: +202-27365140, Email: iomegypt@iom.int.