Episode 46: Multi-stakeholder engagement in migration governance - reality from the ground

The Migration & Diaspora Podcast

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a show about all things migration. Today, I’m delighted to welcome Elana Wong from the Civil Society Action Committee (CSAC) to the show to talk about multi-stakeholder engagement in global migration governance.

About Elana

Elana is a young advocate for migrant rights, and civil and whole-of-society representation, currently serving as part of the secretariat for the CSAC and Global Forum on Migration & Development (GFMD) Civil Society Mechanism, housed under the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC). She formerly served as Co-Director (2021-2023) and Asia-Pacific Regional Lead (2020) for the Migration Youth & Children Platform, where she led youth participation in multiple migration advocacy processes at the global and regional processes, including the 2020 Global Compact for Migration Asia-Pacific Regional Review, the 2021 GFMD, and the 2022 International Migration Review Forum, as well as for cross-cutting international policy forums for UNESCO, WHO, and United Cities and Local Governance (UCLG). Originally from Malaysia and Singapore, she currently resides in the UK.

What we talk about

• Elana and CSAC's work to engage in global migration governance processes like the Global Compact for Migration (GCM).
• Perspectives on how the GCM, adopted in 2018, has gone thus far with respect to civil society engagement.
• How the GCM's commitments to multi-stakeholder engagement compare with the realities of its implementation.
• How to enable meaningful multi-stakeholder engagement in global migration governance.

I’m so glad to have Elana on the show to update us on this topic after her colleague and legendary civil society activist, Colin Rajah, came on the podcast (Episode 16) a couple of years back to share some really valuable insights. I highly recommend you tune in to that one too.

As always, thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy the show.

Links

• CSAC: https://csactioncommittee.org/
• Connect with Elana Wong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elana-wong/
• MDPcast #16 with CSAC's Colin Rajah on the messy but beautiful world of civil society engagement: https://www.homelandsadvisory.com/podcast/episode/262a4909/episode-16-messy-but-beautiful-how-civil-society-engages-in-global-migration-governance

• IMRF 2022 Assessment Paper: https://csactioncommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMRF-2022-ASSESSMENT-PAPER-Final-7.pdf

• GFMD Civil Society: https://gfmdcivilsociety.org/
• All the MDPcast episodes and show notes: https://homelandsadvisory.com/podcast