The Global Cities Fund (GCF) is the MMC’s response to the unmet needs of cities as they support migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people (IDPs). By directly funding cities to implement inclusive response and recovery programs of their own design, the GCF builds precedents of fiscal feasibility in city governments that are often disregarded by donors with low risk tolerance. The GCF is led by the MMC in partnership with five key Strategic Partners: the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), the UN Migration Agency (IOM), United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
The inaugural chapter of the GCF, the Global Cities Fund for Inclusive Pandemic Response, currently supports nine city grantees implementing projects that benefit over 8,000 migrants, refugees, and IDPs in the face of Covid-19, with contributions from the Open Society Foundations, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
Building on this successful initial phase, the MMC partnered with the Robert Bosch Stiftung to launch a new chapter of the GCF, the Global Cities Fund for Inclusive Climate Action, to provide city governments with direct technical and financial resources to address the needs of migrant and displaced communities affected by the climate crisis.
