On September 25-26, 2024, IOM Azerbaijan, in partnership with the State Migration Service, hosted a two-day Migrants in Countries in Crisis (MICIC) training. Ahead of COP29 in November, the event created new opportunities for knowledge-sharing among stakeholders, focusing on the intersection of climate change and crisis response, while identifying solutions and policies to address these challenges.

Troy Dooley, IOM Chief of Mission in Azerbaijan, opened the event by emphasizing the importance of the training, “equipping emergency management practitioners from the Government of Azerbaijan with a strong understanding of the MICIC Guidelines including the synergies between the initiative and the goals of the COP29 Presidency”.

The training provided participants with new insights into climate mobility, where communities are increasingly displaced by disasters and environmental and climate changes. Additionally, it enabled participants to apply principles from MICIC through real world simulation exercises, fostering partnerships and collaboration among stakeholders to further enhance response mechanisms, integrate best practices including protection measures for migrants affected by climate-related crises.

The training brought together 20 emergency management practitioners from multiple government ministries and agencies, including the State Migration Service, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Emergency Situations, Education, Health, Ecology and Natural Resources, and the Diaspora Committee.

IOM experts provided these participants with tools and information to offer more inclusive services, tailored to the needs of mobile populations including seasonal farm workers and other labor migrants, tourists, hospitalized persons, and other categories of people on the move. The course also explored how factors such as language barriers and administrative challenges may hinder migrants' access to emergency assistance. Locally contextualized solutions were proposed by participants to overcome these barriers and maximize available resources to reduce risks.