The Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees
Inclusive Climate Action
Announced in partnership and with the support of the Robert Bosch Stiftung (RBSG) and C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40 Cities) on the sidelines of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), the MMC’s Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees: Inclusive Climate Action unlocks direct technical and financial resources to cities addressing the needs of migrant and displaced communities affected by the climate crisis.
The Need
The climate crisis is rapidly becoming a key driver of human mobility. According to the World Bank, by 2050, climate impacts could force more than 200 million people to move within their countries across six regions. Globally, it is estimated that over one billion people could be driven from their homes for climate-related reasons within the next 30 years. It is likely that many of these journeys will lead to cities, which are already the primary destination of international and internal migrants and home to 70 percent of the world’s refugees, IDPs, and stateless people.
Global mayors are actively addressing climate migration locally and internationally, including through the joint C40-MMC Global Mayors Task Force on Climate and Migration (C40-MMC Task Force), which released recommendations for action at COP26 in November 2021. The measures championed by mayors include investments to better adapt in place and reduce displacement; approaches to facilitate the dignified movement of those who live in risk-prone areas; increasing access for newcomers to urban infrastructure and services regardless of migration status; and green and decent job creation programs for urban migrants and displaced people.
While city governments take inclusive action to protect their residents from extreme heat, flooding, or landslides and to welcome people displaced by climate impacts, they often lack the financial resources to meet increasing demand on urban services and address their climate vulnerabilities.
How It Works
The Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees (GCF) is the MMC’s response to the unmet needs of cities as they support migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people (IDPs) in the face of pressing challenges, from global pandemics to the climate crisis. By directly funding cities to implement inclusive programs of their own design, the GCF builds precedents of fiscal feasibility in city governments that are often disregarded by donors with low risk tolerance.
The Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees: Inclusive Climate Action is supporting ten city-led interventions in Africa with grants of up to $200,000 USD available to each grantee over a period of 12 months. City applicants put forward their best ideas to ensure that their migrant, refugee, and internally displaced communities affected by the climate crisis are included in project design and/or implementation, whether that is testing new approaches; scaling work that is already underway; extending existing efforts to reach these communities; or replicating promising practices that have worked elsewhere.
Projects considered for this opportunity focused on inclusive climate action, and specifically on priority impact areas identified by the C40-MMC Action Agenda:
Urban Resilience: Increase the resilience of urban residents in the face of climate hazards and climate displacement.
Urban Inclusion: Ensure the protection and inclusion of people who move to cities, including those affected by disaster and climate displacement.
Urban Transformation: Deliver a green and just transition in partnership with migrants and affected communities.
City Grantees
During the first-ever UN International Migration Review Forum in May 2022, the Fund announced grants for the city governments of Accra, Ghana; Arua, Uganda; Beira, Mozambique; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Monrovia, Libera.
On the sidelines of the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in November 2022, the Fund announced six more grantees: Casablanca, Morocco; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; eThekwini (Durban), South Africa; Hargeisa, Somaliland; Nairobi, Kenya; and Nyamagabe District, Rwanda.
With a growing pipeline of city-led projects that will improve the lives of thousands of migrants, refugees, displaced people, and marginalized residents around the world, the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees has now expanded to support 28 city grantees worldwide, exceeding the MMC’s goal to raise funding for 22 cities by the end of 2022, strengthening each city’s commitment and capacity to sustainably support countless more.
Accra, Ghana
Accra will survey migrants working in the city’s informal waste economy and facilitate their access to financial inclusion, healthcare, and childcare, while improving the city’s overall waste management practices.
Arua, Uganda
Arua will create employment opportunities for migrants and refugees in Uganda’s first municipal recycling program, while introducing environmentally sustainable practices and curricula in schools, health centers, and other public institutions.
Beira, Mozambique
Beira will refurbish unused city assets as temporary shelters for local communities impacted by storm surges and rising sea levels, while offering pathways for dignified and voluntary relocation along with risk-awareness-building and livelihood support.
Casablanca, Morocco
Casablanca will renovate its Souk of African Solidarity, providing additional space for migrants and asylum seekers impacted by the climate crisis to start green businesses in the heart of the city.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Dar es Salaam will connect migrants and refugees to entrepreneurship and employment opportunities across the city's waste management system.
EThekwini (Durban), South Africa
EThekwini (Durban) will employ migrants and displaced people in the city’s recycling program and establish an online CARE portal to link service providers with people who need to access critical services both before and after climate disasters.
Hargeisa, Somaliland
Hargeisa will work hand-in-hand with internally displaced families living in flood-prone areas to relocate them to safer areas of the city and provide them with land ownership.
Joburg, South Africa
Johannesburg will provide food security to internally displaced people by facilitating access to farmable city-owned land and expanding their access to the city's existing urban agriculture training programs, including aquaponics and rooftop gardens.
Monrovia, Liberia
Monrovia will mitigate flooding and coastal erosion by planting mangrove trees, creating green spaces around the city and offering green job training opportunities to migrants and internally displaced youth in the process.
Nairobi, Kenya
Nairobi will provide migrant, refugee, and receiving communities with green jobs and partner with them to make Nairobi’s waterways and public spaces greener and safer for newcomers.
Nyamagabe District, Rwanda
Nyamagabe District will convert waste from a local refugee camp into renewable energy for the area at large, reducing deforestation, creating green jobs, and building social cohesion in the process.
Strategic Partners
Our Strategic Partners provide on-the-ground technical and coordination support to city grantees, advise on the development of the pipeline of projects, and amplify the Fund’s impact globally.
To learn more and become a partner, contact fund@mayorsmigrationcouncil.org.
Selection Committee
The Selection Committee of the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees: Inclusive Climate Action was appointed to review applications and ultimately select the 11 city grantees. Together, Selection Committee members represent the following experiences and skillsets: refugee and migrant perspectives, subject matter expertise, and funding/financial expertise.
A Call to Action:
22 by 2022
We call on international actors focused on migration and displacement to drive direct project funding to at least 22 cities in low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2022.
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