ACT Alliance’s Migration and Displacement programme promotes and defends the rights of people on the move by supporting members and ecumenical partners in amplifying the voices of the affected and improving access to rights and protection. Through coordinated global advocacy, capacity-strengthening initiatives, and engagement with multilateral policy spaces, ACT ensures that migration and displacement are addressed as cross-cutting justice issues, closely linked with climate justice, gender justice, and humanitarian response.
Thematic Areas of Focus
Migration and Displacement
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In 2024, ACT Alliance prioritised the continued capacity building of members and allied networks, both in technical skills and advocacy strategies focused on strengthening the rights of migrants and displaced populations. Capacity strengthening activities included support for research and advocacy on human mobility in the context of climate change, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). A virtual course titled “Joint Advocacy for ACT Alliance Members” trained 22 participants in effective advocacy for human mobility, climate justice, and sustainable development.
ACT maintained active participation in the UN Network on Migration (UNNM), including its working groups on regular pathways and climate change. The Alliance contributed to preparations for the 2024 – 2025 Regional Reviews of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), continuing its co-leadership of the UNNM’s workstream on regular pathways. ACT also engaged in follow-up to the Second Global Refugee Forum (GRF), where it continued working on the multistakeholder pledge on localisation and shared members’ practical guidance and experiences.
High-level engagement included a meeting between ACT’s General Secretary, Director of Programmes, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, to explore future collaboration. Internally, the ACT Secretariat initiated preparatory work to strengthen ongoing cooperation with UNHCR. ACT also co-hosted a side event with Brot für die Welt and the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change, contributing to the Rapporteur’s upcoming 2025 report on non-economic loss and damage. In addition, the Migration and Displacement Reference Group contributed a joint statement to the ACT General Assembly, addressing the growing global crisis of solidarity and its impact on people on the move.
Latin America and Columbia (LAC)
In response to humanitarian needs, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia (IELCO), with support from the ACT Colombia Forum, implemented a five-month Rapid Response Fund (RRF) project assisting 1,000 families, approximately 4,000 migrants, transiting through Colombia’s Urabá region. The project provided essential humanitarian services, including hygiene kits, protection kits, food, and psychosocial support. Special attention was given to survivors of gender-based violence through awareness sessions and individual case management that ensured temporary shelter and transport for vulnerable migrants.
Further in-person workshops in Honduras, El Salvador, Peru, and Colombia reached additional ACT Forums through four intensive two-day sessions. These efforts resulted in the completion of 40% to 50% of member Advocacy Plans on human mobility, climate justice, and sustainable development.
ACT Forums and members actively engaged in the start-up phase of the new Community of Practice on Human Mobility and Climate Justice, with advocacy capacity-building as a core component. Members also contributed to the “Displacement for Survival” initiative, collecting personal and community stories highlighting the climate-related drivers of displacement in the region.
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Policy Influence and Global Engagement
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Regional Impact and Humanitarian Response
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Capacity Building and Member-Led Advocacy
In 2025, the programme aims to strengthen the protection and rights of migrants and displaced people by enhancing the advocacy capacity of ACT Forums and members and deepening engagement with global frameworks such as the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the Global Compact for Migration (GCM). Efforts will prioritise climate-induced displacement, internal displacement, refugee crises, and gender dimensions of migration across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and other regions where ACT is active.
ACT will continue to support the development of integrated programming that brings together climate justice, gender justice, and migration, with a particular focus on advancing cross-cutting initiatives led by regional Forums. This will include technical support and capacity strengthening to improve members’ ability to influence policy processes and provide coordinated responses to displacement challenges.
The programme will also sustain global advocacy engagement with UNHCR, the UN Network on Migration, and other multilateral mechanisms, ensuring that ACT’s recommendations are reflected in global policy dialogues. Key areas of focus will include the implementation of the GCM and GCR, and continued participation in UN processes on climate-related mobility and displacement.