Few global funding mechanisms directly finance city governments in low- to middle- income countries on issues of migrant and refugee inclusion. The GCF has quickly proven effective in directly resourcing city governments to build inclusive communities. The GCF is unique in that it:

- Provides donors access to a pipeline of vetted proposals led by city governments that show leadership on migration issues.
- Builds fiscal feasibility in city governments often disregarded by donors with low risk tolerance.
- Accelerates local efforts by providing city grantees with customized support services and connecting them with peers and partners.
- Respects the agency, authority, and capacity of city governments and their local partners by supporting projects of cities’ own design.
- Serves as a flexible, simple, and predictable funding mechanism with low overhead and high efficiency.

As the five inaugural grantees implement GCF projects in their cities, the MMC provides ongoing support through monthly coordination calls, technical support workshops, and quarterly knowledge sharing meetings where the grantees have the opportunity to come together to discuss challenges and shared learnings. Additionally, the MMC continues to connect cities with strategic partners for technical support needs in their respective areas of expertise.

Concurrently, the MMC is developing a GCF Prospectus which will outline over 20 concrete projects in other cities that are not currently supported but have strong potential to address the needs of migrants and displaced should they receive financial support. The MMC is in conversation with other cities, donors, and international actors who have expressed interest in partnering to expand the number of cities supported by the GCF.

Project development: Consultations with more than 18 city networks. funders and international organizations
Project funding: the Open Society Foundations and United Cities and Local Governments
City selection: A Selection Committee of five individuals from the private, philanthropic and public sectors
Project implementation: Formal strategic partnership agreements with IOM, UNHCR, UN Habitat, and UCLG, who work with the MMC to provide direct technical support to city government grantees.

The 5 inaugural grantee projects are collectively improving the lives of 3,000+ migrants, displaced people, and marginalized residents while strengthening each city’s capacity to sustainably support countless more. City governments also benefit as implementing their projects increases capacity to manage and spend non-reimbursable funding to achieve outcomes related to inclusivity while serving as a proof of fiscal feasibility for international humanitarian/development grant making to cities.

In addition to the inaugural 5 projects that serve over 3,000 people, in January 2021, the MMC called on international actors to provide at least 22 cities with the financial support to realize smart and inclusive projects by the end of 2022. Today, the MMC has a project pipeline of over 20 city government project proposals and has received donor interest to nearly double the number of city grantees. Given widespread support, the MMC is interested in further scaling the mechanism to cover additional areas of intervention, such as climate migration and inclusive climate action.

This increased support, both from potential donors as well as implementing partners, demonstrates that the GCF’s aim to prove the feasibility of financing and programming from the bottom-up—supporting city governments to achieve local and global impact—is coming to fruition. The MMC intends to leverage the Global Cities Fund’s early success to ensure as many cities as possible benefit from it.

The unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused unanticipated timeline delays and logistical challenges in some of the projects, especially as second and third waves have hit these cities. Additionally, the pandemic has made site visits for technical support and implementation assessment impossible. To manage these setbacks, the MMC remains in close coordination via email, WhatsApp, and regular calls with each city to troubleshoot and problem solve in real time.

Additionally, while $174,000 is beneficial for a proof of concept or pilot program, it limits the potential scope of projects for the inaugural grantees. Through the first round of grantees, the MMC has learned that cities require more funding and by and large have sufficient capacity to manage higher budgets. As such, the MMC is accepting project proposals of up to $1M USD for the GCF Project Prospectus.

The following conditions are contributing factors to the anticipated success of projects and contribute to evidence of the GCF as an effective funding mechanism:
- Demonstrated need & impact for migrant, refugee, & IDP communities.
- Evidence of commitment from city leadership & connection to existing city policies or goals.
- Clear identification of project leads & implementers.
- Ability to receive funds & provide fiscal oversight.
- Likelihood of successful implementation & risk mitigation.
- Clear metrics for success.
- Engagement of migrants, refugees, or IDPs in understanding the problem & designing or delivering response efforts.
- Additional community benefits
- Additional sources of funding or in-kind support & potential for sustainability after the grant period.
- Building a foundation for future policies or initiatives that effectively respond to the needs of migrants, refugees, & IDPs.
- Replicability & contributions to the field

The future is now for the Global Cities Fund. The positive early returns, coupled with expanding donor and partner interest, represents a window of opportunity to actualise the concept of the GCF into a more permanent funding mechanism and make progress towards 22 by 2022.

To do this, the MMC is currently developing a Global Cities Fund Prospectus, which will outline concrete partnership opportunities in other cities that are not currently supported through the GCF but have strong and unrealized potential to address the needs of migrants and displaced should they receive financial support to do so.

The MMC is seeking like-minded partners interested in investing in and working with us to maximize the impact of the GCF beyond pandemic response to inclusive recovery for many more cities in the future. Should funding be available, we are considering expanding the scope to include projects centred on climate migration and inclusive climate action.

In the face of compounding crises, cities are being asked to do more with less. While many have the mandate to serve people in vulnerable situations, including migrants and displaced residents, cities often do not have the financial resources to meet needs. There is a tremendous unrealized benefit in investing in existing city-level service delivery systems to be more inclusive of migrants and displaced communities rather than funding international actors who miss the opportunity to invest in local capacity.

In a period of 8 months, the MMC secured seed funding for the GCF, launched the initiative, recruited Strategic Partners, selected 5 inaugural city grantees, and launched a global Call to Action endorsed by key influencers in the space. This unity of purpose and mission across various fields and experiences is proof positive that international leaders believe urban investment is both a critical and a feasible pathway to meet the needs of migrant and displaced populations.