Migration Interconnectedness Development In its 9 March ‘Cordaid by 2020 Grand Design paper’, Cordaid has reiterated its focus on fragile and conflict-affected areas. Fragility is among the root causes of forced migration and displacement, and our efforts in the region are aimed at addressing these root causes and at providing humanitarian assistance if possible linked to structural development efforts in education, health care and employment opportunities. Moreover, Caritas has since many years prioritized migration as a key advocacy priority with Pope Francis consistently calling for respecting the rights and dignity of refugees and migrants. Following his appeal, Caritas Internationalis with many Catholic partners launched a two-year global campaign on migration, called ‘Share the Journey’, which was kick-started by the Pope on 27 September in Rome. The MIND program will be aligned to this campaign. 

In 2017, in order to contribute to a society that understands the complexities, and responding to the challenges with humanity and respect while valuing the contribution of everyone working together to have a positive effect on our lives, community and place, the MIND project was launched. MIND, which stands for Migration. Interconnectedness. Development, is a three-year European Caritas project supported by the European Commission. The MIND project aims to improve public understanding of the relation between sustainable development and migration, the role of migration in EU member states, and the EU contribution in development co-operation. It intends to increase the engagement of European society, its actors and its institutions, including government authorities, civil society organisations (CSOs), the private sector, faith-based actors, universities and knowledge centres, grassroots organisations, migrants and diaspora organisations, and refugee self-organisations. The project aims to address three areas of concern: 

•	Root causes of forced migration: identifying reasons that force people to migrate, contributing to the understanding of linkages between migration and sustainable development, and addressing the immediate needs of people forcedly displaced.

•	Welcoming and integrating migrants and refugees: identifying safe and legal pathways of migration, promoting humane asylum policies and the participation and long-term integration in our societies.

•	Facilitating migrants’ contribution to sustainable development: involving migrants and diaspora as development actors in countries of origin, but also of destination. - EU civil society/CSOs: as clearly outlined in sub-point (iv) of this chapter, consultations will be held with target groups such as civil society, majorly via survey or focus group discussions, their involvement in advocacy planning, their involvement in realizing campaigns etc. (see also logical framework - column: sources of verification). CSOs are considered as independent development actors, also when migrants/refugees CSOs. It will be essential to the success of the project, to systematically include diverse views, especially from civil society incl. from representatives of migrant / refugee communities.
- Media: intensive cooperation will be organised with media representatives, so that media coverage on the topic of migrants and refugees is handled fairly and evidence based. This includes press trips and press conferences on the topic of D&M (incl. nexus to SDGs).
- National/European policy makers: they recognise their responsibilities as well as the roles of other (potential) development actors in the domain of development cooperation, SDG promotion and D&M experts. They will be enabled to implement supportive policies, reflecting the global connectedness of decisions on D&M.
- Private sector (enterprises / businesses): despite their general support for migrants / refugees in different occasions (e.g. sponsoring apprenticeships and language courses), businesses often just don’t find the right channels via which to act. MIND organisations will develop concrete action on D&M together with them within the multi-sector advocacy alliance component.
- Researchers: universities and higher educational institutions significant stakeholders to involve for D&M-related advocacy purposes and community engagement. MIND organisations will develop concrete action on D&M together with them within the multi-sector advocacy alliance component.
- Communities:  community structures are often already involved in D&M issues, but do not have a steppingstone in order to expand their impact. They are in need of strong partnerships to channel their energy and apply practical solutions. Esp. via the Caritas regional outreach within each country, volunteers and Youth Action Groups involved in the project, capacity building and best practice sharing is rendered possible.