ICMPD is actively engaged in the Mediterranean region since 2001. 15 years later, underlining the importance of the region, ICMPD opened its first Regional Office in Malta, in 2016. The Regional Office for the Mediterranean, oversees ICMPD’s engagement in the region. It further hosts a number of multi-country regional projects implemented across the Middle East and North Africa.

ICMPD firmly believes in the decentralisation of its operations and in the implementation of its activities as close as possible to the action, and in close collaboration with its partners. As such, ICMPD in the Mediterranean currently comprises three Field Offices, in Jordan, Libya and Tunisia, and one Project Office, in Lebanon. These offices are home to a number of national projects directly implemented in the host country, as seen below.

In 2021, inspired by the theme of the Maltese Chair of ICMPD on “re-defining migration partnerships”, ICMPD initiated an overhaul of its approach in the Mediterranean, building on 20 years of experience. With the aim to usher a new era of international cooperation on migration in the region, the framework of Migration Capacity Partnership for the Mediterranean (MCP Med) supports the New Agenda for the Mediterranean. The MCP Med strategy encompasses all present and future actions of ICMPD in the region.

The principle of Joint Leadership, Shared Responsibility anchors this new approach.

The MCP Med puts capacities at the heart of migration partnerships, acknowledging that such pragmatism will help bridge political and cooperation agendas between Europe and its southern neighbours, as well as address the challenges of ever more resource intensive migration governance. The MCP is articulated around four cross-cutting capacity drivers, namely:

a) multi-dimensional governance,

b) professionalisation,

c) modernisation,

d) communication.

Flagship initiatives are shaped to support all ICMPD actions within the MCP Med and beyond. For instance, the Training Institute for Migration Capacity Partnership in the Mediterranean (MCP Med TI) was inaugurated in December 2021 in Malta, marking a firm commitment in ICMPD’s approach to support the professionalisation of the migration sector in the region.

In 2022, the MCP Med strategy was further elaborated with an eye to closely aligning to theme of the German Chair of ICMPD calling “to build and develop capacities in partner countries, actions to

strengthen cooperation along migration routes, while also strengthening the capacities of implementing partners and the donor community”.

Capitalising on these developments, 2023 is the “Year of #MigrationCapacityParnerships” for ICMPD in the Mediterranean, marking the official launch and operationalisation of the new MCP Med strategy across the region, moving towards durable and holistic solutions to address migration challenges, as called for by the ICMPD 2023 Türkiye Chair of ICMPD