In migration and development cooperation policy, coordination between relevant authorities on the ground is both a challenge and a success factor

Migration and development cooperation may intersect, for example in policies on regular migration pathways and migration management systems. European countries identify, among other things, coordination between relevant authorities on the ground as both a challenge and a success factor.

> Read the full EMN study (comparison between 22 European countries*) and the EMN Netherlands two-pager (comparison from a Dutch perspective)

Most countries (AT, BE, DE, EE, ES, FI, FR, HU, IT, LT, LV, NL, PT, SE, SK) have a national strategy and/or policy addressing the links between migration and development cooperation. Like eight other countries (AT, CZ, DE, ES, FR, NL, PT, SI, SK; RS), the Netherlands has linked these to development cooperation objectives. In doing so, the Netherlands focuses on:

• promoting regular migration pathways;
• improving political, economic and social conditions in partner countries.

For this purpose, the Netherlands cooperates with countries in the Sahel**, North Africa and the Eastern Neighbourhood (countries along the EU’s eastern border).

Challenges

Nine of the countries studied, including the Netherlands, experience challenges in implementing migration and development cooperation policy. In the Netherlands, these mainly occur at the operational level, for example in coordinating between different European and international organisations working on the ground. Challenges in other countries relate to political sensitivity (DE, FR), access to funding (AT, BE, LT, SE) and data availability (DE, FR).

Successes

• In 6 countries (BE, CZ, DE, FR, IT, LT), effective coordination between different actors, including cooperation between institutions at the strategic level, was identified as a success factor.
• In Belgium, Germany and Italy, involving migrants and partner countries in shaping implementation proved successful.

**Sahel: Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Somalia, Somaliland, Chad