In recent years, migrants have made a significant contribution to the socio-economic landscape of Nepal. Due to the major contribution of remittances to the country’s economy, migration has risen to the top of the policy agenda. The Government of Nepal is increasingly realizing the importance of leveraging the link between migration and development. However, migration in the academic curriculum of Nepali universities is yet to be addressed comprehensively, creating an educational vacuum on migratory issues.

The Nepal Migration Profile, published in 2019, highlights many gaps in data and research on migration in Nepal which will limit to ensure that laws and policies are established and targeted successfully.¹ This is particularly important to ensure the effective consideration of cross-cutting issues, such as gender considerations. The Migration Profile also acknowledges the necessity of gathering high-quality migration statistics, conducting in-depth migration research, and disseminating more information about migration in order to support and advise the government in developing evidence-based policies and programs.

With the inclusion of migration in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), migration has made it to the top of the development discourse agenda in the country. However, migration is yet to be fully mainstreamed in the policies of all three tiers of the government, and the national development strategy. Migration governance in Nepal is multi-sectoral with the engagement of different ministries. Currently, respective ministries implement initiatives as part of migration governance, however, these lack an overarching comprehensive and harmonized approach to migration for development. This is in part due to the limited exposure of policymakers and practitioners to a 360-degree view of migration and sustainable development.

In this context, IOM Nepal and Tribhuvan University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, signed a cooperation agreement to conduct the Migration School. The school aims to engage the various ministries, civil society, and academia, working on migration to work collaboratively in the field of migration and improve their understanding of the migration governance and complexities of migration.

The Migration School will benefit the Government of Nepal, civil society actors, members of academia and all other professionals working on or interested in migratory issues in Nepal. The course will be based on interactive learning and the sharing of experiences, through physical and virtual sessions. It will seek to strengthen the dialogue and partnerships between the variety of different actors working in the field of migration in Nepal. A certificate of participation will be provided to each of the participants of the course. The promising participants who joined the first edition of the Migration School will be encouraged to be the resource person for the second edition to ensure sustainability of project efforts. IOM Nepal will also continue to the engage the participants as resource persons in their other training programmes to ensure that they maintain their contributions to the migration discourse in Nepal. Similarly, the list of trained participants will also be provided to MoLESS and the partner university to continue to engage with them for capacity development efforts. Standard training and visibility materials will be provided to each of the participants and resource persons of the event.