For the first time since its establishment, all stakeholders participated in the entire 2020 GFMD Summit. As a result, the traditional Civil Society Days was replaced by a Civil Society Preparatory Meeting for civil society delegates prior to the Summit, to brief and prepare all civil society delegates to engage in the 13th GFMD Summit.
The Civil Society Preparatory Meeting took place over 4 days from 7 – 15 January 2021.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, the Civil Society Preparatory Meeting, as well as the entire GFMD Summit took place exclusively online. In addition, no open application process was put in place for civil society delegates this year.
The goals and objectives of this Preparatory Meeting were
- To brief and prepare civil society delegates to engage in the 2020 GFMD Summit, including briefing on all the 2020 GFMD regional consultations and other preparations leading up to the Summit.
- To collectively develop a set of broad civil society outcomes and recommendations on 4 key thematic areas.
- To prepare civil society delegates to carry these civil society outcomes and recommendations as key messages through the entire GFMD Summit, to dialogue and advocate for with governments and other stakeholders.
Themes
For the Civil Society Preparatory Meeting, the 6 GFMD themes were consolidated into 3 themes, and a 4th one on COVID-19 was added, for a total of 4 thematic areas. The 4 key themes the Civil Society Preparatory Meeting focused on were:
| THEMES | Background papers | |
| THEME 1 | Governance of Labour Migration, and Skilling of Migrants | GFMD Theme 1; GFMD Theme 2 |
| THEME 2 | Gaps in Migrant Protection | GFMD Theme 4 |
| THEME 3 | Irregular Migration | GFMD Theme 5 |
| THEME 4 | COVID-19 – Building Back Better for Migrants | Action Committe COVID-19 statement; Civil Society COVID-19 overview |
Program
The Civil Society Preparatory Meeting was organized as follows:
Day 1: Thursday, 7 January – Opening plenary (livestreamed on our home page)
Day 2: Monday, 11 January – Breakout sessions (for registered delegates only)
Day 3: Tuesday, 12 January – Breakout sessions (for registered delegates only)
Day 4: Friday, 15 January – Closing plenary (livestreamed on our home page)