Nepal Migration Profile: Promoting Strategic and Evidence Based Policy Making

Migration plays an important role in Nepal’s economic and social development. In recent years, due to the significant contribution of remittances to GDP and labor migration as a livelihoods strategy, migration has risen to the top of the policy agenda in Nepal. The Government of Nepal is increasingly realizing the importance to leverage the link between migration and development. However, reliable data on migration are often scarce, making it difficult for decision-makers to develop effective migration policies. Where migration statistics do exist, policy-makers do not make full use of them since the majority of relevant institutions and policy makers are not aware of how it could be analyzed and used for decision making and planning.

The overall objective of this project is to promote and support evidence-based policy making and to call attention to the benefits of mainstreaming migration into the policy planning process through the development and dissemination of a migration profile. In order to enhance coordination among relevant stakeholders and ensure the ownership, the project will establish an Inter-ministerial Working Group, and the Migration Profile will be prepared in full consultation with the Working Group members. Additionally, the project will widely disseminate the findings of the Migration Profile and train policy makers and practitioners on how to collect, analyze and utilize migration data for policy making so as to ensure that migration data are actively incorporated into and used for policy development. Based on the gaps and priorities identified during the migration profile development process, the project through policy discussion sessions will support the government in developing policy recommendations and action plans aimed at leveraging the benefits of migration for development and addressing its negative consequences.