New Chapter of Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees Will Support Ten African Cities Delivering Solutions for Migrants and Displaced People Affected by Climate Crisis

New Chapter of Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees will Support Ten African Cities Delivering Solutions for Migrants and Displaced People Affected by Climate Crisis

Five inaugural grantees announced today are Accra (Ghana), Arua (Uganda), Beira (Mozambique), Johannesburg (South Africa) and Monrovia (Liberia).

With a new $1,000,000 funding commitment, the IKEA Foundation will add an additional five grantees, doubling the effort launched by Mayors Migration Council and C40 Cities in partnership with Robert Bosch Stiftung.

New York City, May 18, 2022 — Today, during the 2022 United Nations International Migration Review Forum (IMRF), the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees (GCF) announced five new city grantees along with a US$1 million commitment from the IKEA Foundation to add five cities to the pipeline. 

Launched in 2021 at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) by the Mayors Migration Council (MMC) in partnership with C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40 Cities) and with support from the Robert Bosch Stiftung (RBSG), the Inclusive Climate Action (ICA) chapter of the GCF drives financial and technical resources to African cities addressing the needs of migrants and displaced people affected by the climate crisis.

The World Bank estimates that as many as 85 million sub-Saharan Africans could migrate due to the climate crisis by 2050, all within one of the world’s fastest urbanizing regions. African mayors are taking bold action locally and internationally, through mechanisms such as the C40-MMC Global Mayors Task Force on Climate and Migration, to protect their residents from heat, flooding, or landslides, and to welcome people displaced by climate impacts. But they face an urban finance gap that limits their ability to do so at scale, as the recent report Municipal Finance for Migrants and Refugees: the State of Play shows. This is where the GCF comes into play. 

Recently recognized in Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards, the GCF builds precedents of fiscal feasibility in city governments that are often disregarded by donors with low risk tolerance by directly funding city governments to implement projects of their own design.  Launched in 2021 with a seed investment of US$1 million from the Open Society Foundations, the GCF has since raised more than US$4.5 million to support 20 cities that will improve the lives of more than 20,000 migrants and displaced and marginalized people worldwide. 

The new projects awarded by the Selection Committee of experts include: 

• Access to Services for Migrants Working in the Informal Waste Sector in Accra, GhanaAccra 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.
• Income Opportunities for Migrants and Refugees in First Municipal Recycling Center in Arua, UgandaArua will create employment opportunities for migrants and refugees in its first municipal recycling program, while introducing environmentally sustainable practices and curricula in schools, health centers, and other public institutions.
• Pathways for Dignified Relocation in Beira, MozambiqueBeira 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.
• Nature-Based Solutions to Reduce Climate Displacement in Monrovia, LiberiaMonrovia 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.
• Food Security for Displaced Residents in Johannesburg, 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. 

The new US$1 million contribution from the IKEA Foundation will expand support to five additional African cities, building momentum towards the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this November. 

To build on this progress, the GCF partners are calling on international donors to increase the number of supported cities to at least 22 by the end of 2022—a global movement to support the unmet resource needs of city governments in providing for migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people, 22 by 2022. To learn more and become a partner, contact fund@mayorsmigrationcouncil.org. 

Visit www.mayorsmigrationcouncil.org/gcf and follow #GlobalCitiesFund on social media for more information. For general background and inquiries, visit www.mayorsmigrationcouncil.org.   

For press inquiries, contact Jake Adler, Head of Communications at the Mayors Migration Council, at jadler@mayorsmigrationcouncil.org or +1 (718) 702-4868. 

Mayoral Quotes:

“The Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees will empower us to better understand the experiences of Accra’s migrant communities, especially those in the informal economy displaced by the climate crisis, and mold our services and programs around their needs while making our city more ecologically sustainable.” —Elizabeth K. T. Sackey, Mayor of Accra, Ghana

“Arua is thrilled to be a grantee of the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees. This support will unlock our city’s potential to accelerate the establishment of the first recycling center managed by a city government in Uganda. This will address the plastic menace in Arua City and neighboring urban centers, as well as strengthen our efforts to safeguard the welfare of our migrant and displaced residents who play a valuable role in sustaining our economy.” —Sam Wadri Nyakua, Mayor of Arua, Uganda

“Thanks to the support of the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees, Beira will complete long overdue repairs to the Praia Nova market, which has been ravaged by the sea and intense storms due to climate change. We will ultimately work with the displaced communities in our city to ensure their relocation to safer land.” —Albano Carige, Mayor of Beira, Mozambique

“Johannesburg’s residents who are internally displaced and unhoused stand to benefit immensely from the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees, which is making it possible for our city to expand our existing urban agriculture programs, provide new income generation opportunities, and enhance food security for our most marginalized and vulnerable communities.”  —Mpho Phalatse, Mayor of Johannesburg, South Africa 

“The climate crisis poses enormous risks for Monrovians, and especially our migrant and internally displaced residents, who often live in neighborhoods prone to flooding due to accelerated coastal erosion. The Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees will empower us to green our city, proactively mitigate climate vulnerabilities, and provide the requisite skills and competencies for our youngest citizens to compete in the labor market and contribute to sustainable economic development of Monrovia and Liberia at large.” —Jefferson T. Koijee, Mayor of Monrovia, Liberia 

Partner Quotes:

“We are proud to support the new chapter of the Global Cities Fund For Migrants and Refugees and accelerate inclusive climate action in African cities. City leaders are uniquely positioned to unlock the potential of migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people as active agents of change in the transition to greener and more inclusive societies and we are excited to join them in this journey.”—Annemieke de Jong, Head of Portfolio, Refugee Livelihoods, IKEA Foundation, IKEA Foundation

“As a direct result of the C40-Mayors Migration Council Action Agenda, we are showing that, when provided with direct access to funding, cities are laboratories of change. Today, we are sending a strong message to the world: mayors are at the frontline of climate and migration challenges, as well as at the forefront of the solutions. And innovative funders are ready to support them pioneering inclusive climate actions.” —Mark Watts, Executive Director, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group 

“At the Robert Bosch Stiftung, we recognize the growing urgency to address the intersection between climate change and human mobility and have made this a core strategic priority. In response to the C40-MMC Task Force’s compelling advocacy, we are proud to partner with the Mayors Migration Council and C40 Cities to open a new chapter of the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees to support city-led initiatives on inclusive climate action in Africa.” —Ottilie Bälz, Senior Vice President, Robert Bosch Stiftung 

“We’re grateful to Robert Bosch Stiftung for helping us launch this new chapter for the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees and for the IKEA Foundation to keep scaling this cutting-edge work. We are excited to deepen our partnership with C40 Cities and continue to advocate for more funders to join the course, in order to expand the number of cities supported, as well as to other regions of the world.”—Vittoria Zanuso, Executive Director, Mayors Migration Council 

Background:

About the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees

The Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees (GCF), is an initiative launched by the Mayors Migration Council (MMC) to respond to the unmet needs of cities as they support migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people. By directly channeling international resources to city- led projects 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 GCF is led by the MMC in partnership with five key Strategic Partners:  the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), the UN Migration Agency (IOM), United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The inaugural chapter of the GCF, the Global Cities Fund for Inclusive Pandemic Response, currently supports nine city grantees implementing projects that benefit over 8,000 migrants, refugees, and IDPs in the face of Covid-19, with contributions from the Open Society Foundations, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. 

Building on this successful initial phase, the MMC partnered with C40 Cities, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, and the IKEA Foundation to launch a new chapter of the GCF, the Global Cities Fund for Inclusive Climate Action, to provide city governments with direct technical and financial resources to address the needs of migrant and displaced communities affected by the climate crisis.

With a growing pipeline of 20 city-led projects that will improve the lives of more than 20,000 migrants, displaced people, and marginalized residents around the world, the GCF is well on track to meet its goal to drive international funding to at least 22 cities by the end of 2022, 22 by 2022. 

To learn more, visit the GCF website.

About the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group

C40 is a network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities who are working to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis and create a future where everyone, everywhere can thrive. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using a science-based and people-focused approach to help the world limit global heating to 1.5°C and build healthy, equitable and resilient communities. Through a Global Green New Deal, mayors are working alongside a broad coalition of representatives from labour, business, the youth climate movement and civil society to go further and faster than ever before. The current Chair of C40 is Mayor of London Sadiq Khan; and three-term Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg serves as President of the Board. C40’s work is made possible by our three strategic funders: Bloomberg Philanthropies, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and Realdania.

To learn more about the work of C40 and our cities, please visit our website and C40 Knowledge Hub or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

About the Mayors Migration Council

The Mayors Migration Council (MMC) is a mayor-led advisory and advocacy organization that aims to accelerate ambitious global action on migration and displacement through city diplomacy and practice, creating the conditions for urban migrants, displaced people, and receiving communities to thrive.

To fulfill our vision, we support mayors to i) access and influence State-led diplomatic processes most relevant to migration and displacement; ii) secure financial and technical resources to implement global migration and displacement goals locally, including through the Global Cities Fund; iii) elevate mayoral leadership on the international stage through global communications; iv) generate and disseminate knowledge grounded in local experiences; and v) build relationships with local and global champions.

Created by mayors for mayors, we are a nimble team of political advisors and urban practitioners led by a Leadership Board of global city leaders, including the mayors of Amman, Bristol, Dhaka North, Freetown, Kampala, Los Angeles, Milan, Montevideo, Montreal, and Zürich. We are managed as a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and operate with the institutional support of the Open Society Foundations, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the Robert Bosch Stiftung, in addition to other project-based donors.

To learn more, please visit our website and Climate Migration Resource Hub or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

About the Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH

The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH is one of Europe’s largest foundations associated with a private company. It works in the areas of health, education, and global issues. With its charitable activities, it contributes to the development of viable solutions to social challenges. For this purpose, the Foundation implements its own projects, enters into alliances with partners, and supports third-party initiatives. Since it was established in 1964, the Robert Bosch Stiftung has invested more than 2 billion euros in charitable work.

For further information, please visit the website.

About the IKEA Foundation

The IKEA Foundation is a strategic philanthropy that focuses its grant making efforts on tackling the two biggest threats to children’s futures: poverty and climate change. It currently grants more than €200 million per year to help improve family incomes and protect the planet from climate change. Since 2009, the IKEA Foundation has granted more than €1.5 billion to create a better future for children and their families. In 2021 the Foundation decided to make an additional €1 billion available to accelerate the reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions over the next 5 years.

Learn more at: www.ikeafoundation.org or by following us on LinkedIn or Twitter.