Providing guidance and training on migration data collection, analysis and governance, and facilitating data innovation.

GMDAC’s capacity building activities aim to support governments in their efforts to improve migration data and the evidence base at national and regional levels. The approach taken is:

1. To advise policy makers on effective strategies.
2. To provide appropriate training tools.
3. To enhance the policy framework and institutional capacity for the timely collection, analysis and reporting of migration data.

The GMDAC team works closely with IOM country missions and regional offices, government officials, and other UN Agencies to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the existing data frameworks. The activities are designed to build capacity to meet the UN recommendations on migration statistics, whilst addressing pragmatically the immediate and longer term national and regional policy needs.

There is increasing awareness of the importance of this approach, in the light of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular Target 10.7 on countries’ need to implement planned and well-managed migration policies, but also in regard to the targets relating to health, poverty and women. Target 17.18 call for the enhancment of capacity building support to developing countries to increase the availability of data disaggregated by migratory status, among other variables. In addition, in Africa, the 2063 Agenda provides a still broader agenda and the importance of migration data has been signaled for renewed attention by the African Union. 

Support for Governments

GMDAC supports governments in their efforts to improve migration statistics for policymaking, including through:

• ​Re​gional guidelines and migration data strategies 
• Data collection manuals
• Training materials
• Migration profiles
• Workshop facilitation
• Project design​

Recent Work

GMDAC's recent and ongoing capacity building efforts: 

• ECOWAS & Mauritania
• Ghana
• Namibia
• South African Development Community​
• Egypt
• Azerbaijan 
• Zambia