U.S., Canada, Korea and Spain Increase Support for IDB’s Efforts on Migration

• Countries pledge $39 million contribution to support IDB’s investment to address migration challenges in the region, promoting safe, orderly and regular migration.  
• Contributions will unlock an additional $50 million in matching funds from the IDB’s Ordinary Capital, expanding new resources to $89 million. 
   

The United States, Canada, Korea and Spain pledged new contributions totaling $39 million to bolster efforts by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to help countries turn migration challenges into development opportunities. 

The United States pledged $25 million, Canada pledged $10 million, and Spain and Korea pledged $2 million each.

These contributions will unlock an additional $50 million in matching funds from the IDB’s Ordinary Capital, expanding resources to tackle migration-related development challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean by an additional $89 million.

The IDB Board of Governors approved $100 million from its Grant Facility in May 2019 for migration-related projects. Building on this commitment, they approved an additional $100 million in November 2022, using a matching scheme that taps into both internal resources and external donations. 

The U.S. government pledged a new contribution of $25 million. This adds to 2021 commitment of $17.6 million through the Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF) to support policy transformations to promote the socioeconomic integration of the migrant population in Colombia and $12 million to support IDB Lab’s Better Together Challenge.

The government of Canada, through Global Affairs Canada, announced it will be increasing its contribution by $10 million, which will complement its previous commitment of $6 million, allocated in 2022, for a total of $16 million. Canada’s resources have supported single-window strategies for migrant and local populations in Peru, labor inclusion efforts in Chile, Colombia and Ecuador, and the development of the IDB Citizen Perceptions Laboratory on Migration, among other projects.

The government of Korea is committing $2 million that complements a 2019 contribution of $10 million from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) to finance technical cooperation projects to support countries affected by migration flows. This will take its total contribution to $12 million. 

The government of Spain is committing $2 million through the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, which adds to a previous $5 million contribution, taking its total commitment to $7 million. The $5 million was committed to support operations in Colombia and Ecuador and a regional migration capacity-building program, among other projects.

Grant resources will leverage investment operations, assisting countries receiving large and sudden flows of migrants and returnees. The goal is to facilitate migrants’ access to registration and documentation, primary and social services, and economic opportunities.

Since 2019, the IDB has approved 18 operations and 34 technical cooperation grant projects in 12 countries related to migration. This financial and operational support amounts to an investment of approximately $1.3 billion in approved operations to promote the development of host communities and migrant populations. In addition, the IDB has generated knowledge and databases to help inform future policies and programs.