This side event is hosted by the International Migration Research Centre, taking place at the 2026 International Migration Review Forum.Â
This event will highlight and facilitate the exchange of promising, evidence-based practices identified through a global consultation process with civil society. These practices were gathered from grassroots organizations across diverse contexts including: Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Nepal, Thailand, Kenya, Albania and others. By showcasing grassroots insights, the event demonstrates how the whole-of-society approach translates GCM principles into tangible benefits, from rights protection to sustainable economic inclusion.
Grassroots organizations are uniquely positioned to transform gender inequalities because they operate on the front lines of the migration cycle, directly engaging with the distinct realities of women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals. By utilizing a whole-of-society approach, these organizations challenge structural barriers by providing evidence-based tools and lived-experience leadership. They transform systemic gaps into opportunities for agency, ensuring that gender equality is a central lens through which migration policies are designed and measured.
The FeMig Project: Building Feminist Migration Policy for Gender Equality, from Grassroots to Global, an initiative led by the Gender+Migration Hub at the International Migration Research Centre in partnership with the Women in Migration Network and the International Detention Coalition, and funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), aims to develop a Feminist Migration Policy from the perspective of grassroots organizations. The purpose of the initiative is to bring civil society together to strengthen networks, share knowledge and build agendas towards transforming the long-standing and pervasive gender inequality embedded in migration. Recognizing that civil society work on the ground with migrants and are key actors in migration governance at local, regional and international levels, FeMig aims to facilitate the development of feminist approaches to migration governance, policy and practice, highlighting the voices of civil society, from the grassroots to the global. Femig further aims to promote the meaningful participation of civil society in migration governance and to mobilize shared knowledge through the Gender+Migration Hub, Women in Migration Network and the International Detention Coalition.
