UNDP hosts solution makers on migration and forced displacement. The International Forum on Local Solutions to Migration and Displacement will be held by Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality and UNDP, in cooperation with the UNHCR, IOM, WALD, UMT and UCLG-MEWA on 26-27 November in Gaziantep.

The forum will outline local authorities’ solutions to improve the life of refugees and migrants and discuss opportunities to promote further international cooperation in response to migration and forced displacement at the local level.

The International Forum on Local Solutions to Migration and Displacement will be held by the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality (GMM) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), together with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Migration Agency (IOM), the World Academy for Local Government and Democracy (WALD), the Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT), and the United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA) on 26-27 November in Gaziantep.

The forum under the theme of ‘From Emergency to Resilience and Development’ brings together several local development actors from different countries to share, showcase and exchange good practices on responses to migration and forced displacement at the urban settings between Turkish municipalities and local authorities around the world. The event will also provide an opportunity to facilitate city-level partnerships, and contribute to the existing networks of relevant actors in the migration and forced displacement contexts.

Ahead of the first Global Refugee Forum (GRF) that Turkey will co-convene and UNHCR will co-host on 17-18 December 2019 in Geneva, the Forum highlights how approaches bridging humanitarian and development responses, such as the New Way of Working, have been put into practice to achieve the goals and objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).

A key outcome of the municipal forum will be the 2019 Gaziantep Declaration reflecting, inter alia, good practices on the implementation of globally and regionally agreed principles on local solutions to migration and forced displacement. The Declaration will be communicated to the Global Refugee Forum (GRF), the GFMD and its Mayors’ Mechanism, the Global Mayoral Forum on Human Mobility, Migration and Development and UCLG Congress to feed in these respective discussions.

You can see the program and speakers on the Forum’s web site: municipalforum2019.org