Sustainable Development Council (SDC) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) join hands to assess the contribution of migration towards Sustainable Development in Sri Lanka.
A number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets either directly or indirectly relate to migration. The centre- piece for migration in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is target 10.7 to reduce inequality in and among countries, calling to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies implementation of the SDGs provides an opportunity to safeguard and empower mobile populations to reach their full potential, benefitting individuals, communities and countries around the world.
The need for reliable and comprehensive data to monitor progress towards achievement of SDGs targets, including those related to migration is therefore pressing. However, Sri Lanka does not have a cohesive approach to capture migration related data which is indeed crucial to respond more effectively and humanely to shape the regulation of the mobility of persons across borders.
Although various national institutions collect considerable amounts of migration data across various government agencies, there is no mechanism to centralize, disaggregate and cross-reference the data collected in order to use it towards SDGs monitoring. The lack of collaboration and integration among data producers and users in the migration domain is hindering the progress towards achieving SDGs related to migration, and the mainstreaming of migration in the national development process and the ability to track its contribution to the national development and SDGs.
In order to address this gap, SDG and IOM recently entered into a formal partnership to develop a sustainable mechanism to track the progress towards the achievement of the migration-related targets of the SDGs as well as the contribution of migration towards the national development process and SDG achievements in Sri Lanka.
Speaking of the collaboration, the Director General of SDC, Chamindry Saparamadu commented ‘Migration takes diverse forms. The contribution of Sri Lankans living, working or studying abroad to the national development process and towards the SDG achievements in Sri Lanka may not always be easily quantifiable in monetary terms. However, they present an enormous resource base that the country can leverage to support its economic recovery and development process. Many of them already contribute in various ways. The absence of data and information prevent us from getting their best contribution. It is important to develop an integrated mechanism to capture this data and information. I am glad to work with IOM in developing such a mechanism building on our work on SDG data, progress monitoring and assessment through integrated approaches’.
The Chief of IOM Mission to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Sarat Dash highlighted that “tracking the progress of Sri Lanka’s migration-related targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and assessing the contribution of migration towards the SDGs is crucial for creating an appropriate policy environment in Sri Lanka and enabling it to report on SDG accomplishments. IOM is delighted to have the opportunity to work with the Sustainable Development Council in this regard. I am confident that the SDC can bring all relevant stakeholders together to design and implement a need-based approach”.
