The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Indonesia organized a two-day multi-stakeholder Focus Group Discussion to discuss and validate the data collected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) regarding the national Migration Governance Indicators (MGI) assessment. Previously, MOFA facilitated coordination meetings on 15 March 2023 and 3 April 2023, in which related ministries and agencies agreed to respond to 98 MGI indicators covering six dimensions of good migration governance developed by IOM and the Economist Impact (EI). This discussion, which was conducted in hybrid format on 20-21 June 2023 and attended by 94 participants representing 23 ministries and agencies. 

Penny Dewi Herasati, Director of Social Culture and International Organizations for Developing Countries (Sosbud OINB) of MOFA opened the discussion by highlighting the role of the MGI to strengthen migration policies. "MGI will help the Indonesian Government to strengthen the migration policies and ensure a safe, orderly, and regular migration," said Penny during her opening remarks.  

Meanwhile, Zena Van Bemmel-Faulkner, Programme Officer of IOM Indonesia, found that the discussion can be a useful exercise for all stakeholders to synergizing work on migration policy development.  "This is really an opportunity for all stakeholders that are working on migration governance to be able to have a stocktaking exercise and to look at what some of the best practices are and potential areas for further development, as well as consolidating data across the ministries," said Zena.  

The discussion is guided by facilitators representing IOM Indonesia with explanations by EI researchers who focused on cross-checking the data inputs in the survey matrix by ministries and agencies. The MGI assessment conducted at national and local levels, with Central Java as the selected province. 

The Focus Group Discussion was part of the Migration Governance for Sustainable Development in Indonesia (2022-2023), funded by the Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MMPTF), implemented by IOM, together with UN Women and UNDP, which aims to support the inter-institutional coordination processes to apply a 'whole of government' and a 'whole of society' approach to migration governance and the implementation of the National Action Plan for the Global Compact for Migration.