The National Coordination Mechanism on Migration (NCM) is a government-led inter-agency coordinating platform in charge of discussing and addressing emerging migration issues and facilitating cooperation among relevant stakeholders with migration-related functions.
The Government of The Gambia with technical and financial support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) through the UN Peace Building Fund (PBF) established the NCM to help strengthen coordination in migration programmes intervention in The Gambia.
The NCM has helped to institute a whole-of-government approach to migration governance as a government-led inter-agency coordination platform. This platform is progressively bringing policy coherence and ultimately, joint long-term action by the various government and non-government agencies.
The objectives of the NCM include facilitating dialogue and cooperation among stakeholders on migration; enhancing understanding of migration trends and dynamics among key stakeholders; taking a comprehensive approach to migration and related issues and facilitating informed-policy making; tracking progress in the implementation of migration-related programs and implementing national, regional and continental policies.
The NCM has a two-tier coordination mechanism: a higher political level chaired by the Vice President and composed of Ministers, and a technical level at Permanent Secretary and Deputy Permanent Secretary levels.
The political level is established to ensure that there are political and resource commitments from government agencies. They are meant to meet bi-annually to provide political directions and review the work done by the technical level. The technical level focuses on coordination at the programmatic level, follow-up on the recommendations passed by the political level and ensure that the government’s priority areas receive technical attention. The technical level also gives feedback to the higher level to inform decision-making.
The NCM is comprised of 8 Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) - Migration and Development, led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Return and Integration, led by the Ministry of Interior; Labour Migration led by the Ministry of Trade; Border Management, led by The Gambia Immigration Department; Migration Data, led by The Gambia Bureau of Statistics; Communications and Advocacy led by the Department of Information Services; Interregional Migration led by the Ministry of Lands and Local Government; and Cross Cutting Issues, led by the Ministry of Gender.
