Beyond the effective engagement of national stakeholders, the migration mainstreaming process will ideally engage bilateral and regional partners who have a stake in the country’s migration and/or development dynamics and policies. Indeed, given the cross-border nature of international migration flows the scope for unilateral action by any individual country is limited. While some countries will have much to gain from facilitating and better planning for internal migration, international flows and the existence of diaspora communities call for state cooperation on issues ranging from the protection of migrants, to skills recognition, and the transfer of funds, to name but a few.
The engagement of bilateral and regional partners (including origin and destination countries along the country’s main migration corridors, development cooperation partners, and regional cooperation bodies) in the migration mainstreaming process can serve several purposes: They can contribute to identifying mutually beneficial and workable policy solutions, for example in the area of labour migration and return; they can provide financial support for the implementation of policies and programmes and/or capacity development; they can contribute to building capacity by sharing their own experience and expertise; and they can help give greater clout to the migration and development portfolio in the national and regional context.