Monrovia — The Mayor of the City of Monrovia, Jefferson Koijee, has pledged government commitment to adherence to the local Migration Governance Indicator (MGI) development, as he addressed a multi-stakeholder gathering.
The MGI project is being funded by government developmental partners to including United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the International Organization of Migration (IOM).
The MGI is a baseline assessment tool on national migration governance structures that helps identify policy levels, that can be used to strengthen migration governance.
It is also a major tool to assist countries in tracking progress on their migration governance, which can be achieved by conducting a follow-up assessment, three years after the initial assessment.
The process was globally developed in 2016 and in 2019, the Local Migration Governance Indicators (LMGI) were developed to provide cities and states an opportunity to have a more comprehensive perspective of their country's migration governance landscape.
The general objective of the MGI is to help countries strengthen their migration governance in their respective contexts based on their prior assistance, and to build on the useful insights the MGI assessment offers.
It also proved to be an effective tool to assist governments' efforts to meet the objectives of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Speaking during the opening session, Mayor Koijee said migration and immigration bans are concerns that policymakers should address with urgency, due to the inequality that surrounds migration around the world.
Koijee urged state actors to effectively use the localized approach geared toward ensuring those concerned to participate in the decision-making process to achieve global policy.
Mayor Koijee said: " We often say to our donors, why it is true, we appreciate your invaluable services, we think it is always important to provide the platform for the affected people to formulate their ideas because they lived with the condition, they understand the condition, soft address these scenarios allow them to participate."
"The local content and the practicality of said condition need to be understood by the affected person," he added.
The Monrovia City Mayor assured partners of working closely with other ministries and agencies to ensure paramount objectives and urgent priority for the country be developed.
"We want the other agencies and ministries to see this as an urgent priority because if we want a developed country, we all must be very concerned about what migration is, especially in the city," he emphasized.
For her part, IOM Chief of Mission to Liberia and Guinea, Ana Fonceca, appreciated the government's effort towards fulfilling its international obligations and commitments on the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"It can be recalled that around this period of last year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) partnered with the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to conduct an assessment on Migration Governance Indicators (MGI) for Liberia which resulted to the development and publication of the country's first MGI Profile," Madam, Fonceca insisted.
She stated that IOM and UNDP are collaborating with the government through the administration of Monrovia City, to conduct Local Migration Governance Indicators.
She further indicated that the meeting is intended to mark the continuation of the good partnership between IOM and the government on issues of migration and development.
"In Liberia, the increasing influence of Monrovia, like other cities around the world, in shaping migration path, both internal and external mobility of people, requires attention from all stakeholders," she added.
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"As such, we must work together with the City Government of Monrovia to improve migration governance at the local level. I wish to restate our commitment to deepening partnership with the Government and people of Liberia on migration and development."
Also speaking, UNDP National Economist and Officer in Charge, Strategy, and Policy, Stanley Kamara said they have a global commitment toward implementation of responsible migration and are interested in seeing countries have safe, orderly, regular migration and responsible mobility.
Kamara called on the government to join other countries to ensure that inequality is reduced, especially income inequality.
"We would like to see join other countries in promoting universal social, economic and political inclusion under Sustainable Development Goal 10," he said.
