The Mayors Migration Council launched the inaugural Global Cities Fund for Inclusive Pandemic Response, a $1,000,000 initiative to respond to the unmet needs of cities as they support migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people (IDPs) during Covid-19. The Global Cities Fund will provide direct financial and technical support over one year to five cities from low-to-middle income countries to implement projects related to public health, employment, livelihoods, and social protection. 

With 95 percent of reported Covid-19 cases in urban areas, cities are on the frontlines of the global public health crisis and its socio-economic impact. The pandemic presents unique challenges to many urban migrants, refugees, and IDPs due to their legal status, their reliance on informal employment, and their restricted access to public health services and benefits. The experiences of many are complicated by language and cultural barriers, xenophobia, racism, and discrimination. In the face of these challenges, mayors and city governments have shown leadership in responding to the needs of their communities, and are doing so with increasingly limited resources. The World Bank projects that local governments may lose 15 to 25 percent of their annual revenues in 2021 alone. Faced with shrinking budgets and minimal access to international loans and funds, cities require new funding streams to respond to increasing unmet needs.  

With support from the Open Society Foundations, the Fund builds on the Global Mayors Solidarity Campaign launched by the MMC’s Leadership Board mayors in July 2020 to increase support for local policies and initiatives that directly address the Covid-19 recovery needs of refugee and migrant communities in their cities. The Fund is executed in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). These strategic partners facilitated outreach to applicant cities, advised on the application process, and will help ensure the success of the Fund by providing technical advice and support to selected city grantees.

“Mayors continue to adeptly respond and implement solutions that include those who are often left behind or overlooked. We are excited to provide direct access to funding and technical support to local leaders who are working to rebuild their communities in an inclusive way. We hope other international actors will join us in recognizing the benefits of providing cities and their residents with the resources they need to unlock their full potential,” said Ms. Vittoria Zanuso, Executive Director of the Mayors Migration Council.

The selected projects include:

• We Are All Barranquilla Opportunities Center
  In Barranquilla, Colombia, Mayor Jaime Pumarejo Heins will expand the city’s Opportunities Center to help refugees, migrants, IDPs, and other vulnerable Colombians access the labor market and strengthen their ability to earn an income for themselves, their families, and their communities.

• Beirut’s Municipal Mobile Health Clinic

  In Beirut, Lebanon, Mayor Jamal Itani will partner with UN-Habitat to purchase and operate the city’s first Municipal Mobile Health Clinic, which will provide free and non-discriminatory Covid-19 testing and other basic medical services to any individual who is unable to access these services currently, including migrants and refugees in marginalized neighborhoods.

• Freetown’s Waste Management Micro-Enterprise Program

  In Freetown, Sierra Leone, Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr will expand the city’s Waste Management Micro-Enterprise program to ensure more youth living in informal settlements, many of whom are rural migrants, access the opportunity to jointly improve their livelihoods and the public health of their communities now and in the future.

• Lima’s Municipal Office of Service to Migrant Neighbors

  In Lima, Peru, Mayor Jorge Munoz Wells will establish a new municipal office addressing the needs of migrants in the Cercado de Lima district by connecting them to the City’s broader suite of healthcare, employment, and other social services.

• Mexico City’s Inclusive Income Protection Program

  In Mexico City, Mexico, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo will expand a newly established municipal income protection program to provide direct cash assistance to internally displaced persons while connecting them to national and local social services aimed at helping them settle within the city.

 “We are proud to support the Mayors Migration Council in its critical efforts to address the inequality and injustice exacerbated by the pandemic,” said Mark Malloch-Brown, President of the Open Society Foundations. “This initiative will help mayors of five cities address the unmet needs of migrants and other communities, as well as send a message to other places about what is possible. Mayors are setting an example of true leadership, ensuring that government programs that mitigate economic and health impacts are available to all.”

 “We invite other partners and funders to join us in recognizing and supporting city leaders in this transformative work,” Malloch-Brown added.

The Global Cities Fund’s Call for Proposals was launched in October 2020. Over the months of November and December 2020, a Selection Committee of subject matter experts and practitioners reviewed submissions and selected five city grantees. The Selection Committee was comprised of:

• Liz Agbor-Tabi, Vice President, Global Policy at Global Citizen

• Sharmarke Dubow, Councilor, City of Victoria, Canada

• Georgios Kaminis, Member of the Greek Parliament, Former Mayor of Athens, Greece, Special Envoy for the MMC and C40

• Cecilia Vaca Jones, Executive Director, Bernard van Leer Foundation

• Chair: Vittoria Zanuso, Executive Director, Mayors Migration Council

The Committee evaluated proposals based on their anticipated impact, commitment from city leadership, and likelihood of program’s institutionalization or replication for continued support to migrants, refugees, and IDPs, among other criteria. 

To build on this progress, the MMC is putting out a call to action: 22 for 2022. The MMC calls on international actors focused on migration and displacement to drive direct project funding to 22 cities in low to middle-income countries by the end of 2022. To learn more and become a partner, contact fund(at)mayorsmigrationcouncil.org.

Visit https://www.mayorsmigrationcouncil.org/gcf and follow #GlobalCitiesFund on social media for more information. For general MMC background and inquiries, visit www.mayorsmigrationcouncil.org or email contact(at)mayorsmigrationcouncil.org. 

Media Contact: Anne McPherson, mcpherson(at)gmail.com.