In the context of the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) work to support stakeholders in the SADC region, IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC), in cooperation with the Regional Office in Pretoria, launched a new regional page on the Global Migration Data Portal through a webinar on Thursday, 28 May. A desk-based overview of public data and documents, the regional page was launched to highlight the past and recent trends on migration in the SADC region, existing regional data sources and their strengths and weaknesses.

As pointed out in the opening remarks by the IOM Regional Director for Southern Africa, Charles Kwenin, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has once more highlighted the need for reliable migration statistics. As discrimination, stigma and social exclusion of migrants continue to rise as a result of COVID-19, solid data serves to ensure that public debates are based on facts and empirical evidence rather than misperceptions. In this regard, Mr Kwenin highlighted how the coordinated efforts of government actors such as National Statistical Offices and relevant Ministries as well as civil society organizations, academia, and migrant associations are key to ensure the collection, analysis and utilization of such data for policy and programming purposes. IOM stands ready to continue its support to such efforts including through its Regional Migration Data Hub (RMDHub) in Pretoria and the Global Migration Data Portal.

Underscoring the relevance of the Global Migration Data Portal, Frank Laczko, Director of GMDAC said, “We already had a problem in trying to capture the movement of people across borders, but this has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It has become much more difficult to collect data using traditional face-to-face methods. On the Migration Data Portal, you can find resources and the recently launched Data Innovation Directory that help to address this issue.”Susanne Melde, Senior Analyst at GMDAC, highlighted that “[W]hile due to the COVID-19 pandemic one can consider this a period of immobility rather than mobility, it is still important to know pre-existing migration patterns in the region to understand how many migrants may be affected by COVID-19, and at the same time may be part of the response to the current health crisis”,

The regional migration data page presented by GMDAC highlighted that, while media and the international community have focused on irregular migration from Africa to Europe, evidence shows that 2 out of 3 migrants from SADC Member States moved to other African countries. The majority of migration flows in the SADC region are in fact intra-regional. As a result of COVID-19, most countries in the region have closed borders and implemented travel restrictions with few exceptions. According to IOM data, at least 148 and 144 restrictive measures that affected travel to and from Southern African countries respectively had been implemented by 20 April 2020. Though labour migration is a key driver of migration in the region, there is a dearth of regional statistics on its dynamics and contribution to economic development . Current projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggest that Southern Africa will be acutely impacted by climate change and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) estimates that nearly 1 million people were newly displaced by disaster in the sub-region in 2019.

The interactive world map of the Portal features more than 75 indicators from 23 data providers and over 30 thematic pages on key migration topics which provide detailed analyses of available migration data sources. It also features a section on the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) global targets and indicators relevant to migration, country and city profiles based on the Migration Governance Indicators, over 200 tools and resources for practitioners as well as a new section that consolidates innovative data sources and methodologies in the field of migration. The Portal aims to help policymakers, media, and the general public to better understand migration dynamics and contribute to a more informed public debate.

The Global Migration Data Portal, on which the Regional Page for Southern Africa is available, was originally launched in December 2017 and and is coordinated and developed by IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) in Berlin. The Portal is made possible by funding from IOM’s Migration Resource Allocation Committee (MiRAC) and IOM Member states, including the Governments of Germany and Switzerland.The new regional page of the Global Migration Data Portal is accessible here.

For more information, please contact Susanne Melde, Senior Analyst at GMDAC at SMelde@iom.int or Matteo Busto, Research Officer for the IOM Regional Office for Southern Africa at mbusto@iom.int