Hertie School by The Gere Foundation
Initiative on migration
“Migration is not a crisis to manage. It is a shared human reality to understand. It is a shared human journey that calls for innovative leadership and to rethink the future together.”
Understanding the Deep Causes of Migration. Advancing Human Dignity Through Research, Policy and Action.
Migration is one of the defining challenges of our time. Yet too often, it is addressed through fragmented policies, short-term responses, and polarized public debate.
The Joint Initiative on Migration, launched by The Gere Foundation in partnership with the Hertie School’s Centre for Fundamental Rights in Berlin, seeks to promote a more informed, humane, and holistic approach to migration governance by examining the complex factors that shape migration flows across regions and continents.
Bringing together academic research, policy expertise, civil society leaders, international practitioners, and emerging leaders, the initiative focuses on understanding the deep causes of migration and displacement — including inequality, conflict, environmental pressures, governance challenges, economic disparities, and human rights violations.
The initiative aims to foster cooperation, shared responsibility, and innovative solutions that place human dignity at the center of migration policies while contributing to a more constructive and forward-looking global conversation on migration.
What We Do
Through interdisciplinary research and international dialogue, the Joint Initiative on Migration seeks to better understand:
- The root causes driving migration and forced displacement.
- The impact of national and international migration policies.
- The relationship between development, governance, and mobility.
- The consequences of border control measures and migration management systems.
- New frameworks for cooperation between Europe, Africa, and the wider international community.
By examining these dynamics holistically, the initiative aims to contribute to more sustainable, innovative, effective, and rights-based approaches to migration.
Why It Matters
A Global Challenge Requires a Global Perspective
Migration does not occur in isolation.
The movement of people across borders is shaped by interconnected political, economic, social, environmental, and humanitarian factors that affect both countries of origin and destination.
How We Help
The Joint Initiative on Migration is built on the belief that lasting solutions require more than analysis alone. They require leadership, collaboration, and action.
Through a unique combination of research, policy development, strategic dialogue, leadership training, and implementation, the initiative seeks to transform knowledge into meaningful impact.
Its work is structured around six interconnected pillars:
- Research: Advancing evidence-based understanding of the deep causes of migration and displacement, generating knowledge that informs both policy and practice.
- Policy: Developing practical and actionable recommendations that contribute to more effective, humane, and sustainable migration governance.
- Dialogues: Creating spaces for strategic conversations between policymakers, academics, civil society leaders, international organizations, and practitioners committed to addressing migration challenges collaboratively.
- Network: Building a growing international community of experts, researchers, and practitioners dedicated to fostering cooperation and shared responsibility.
Our Impact
- Future Leaders: Supporting and empowering emerging leaders who will shape the future of migration policy, international cooperation, and innovative problem-solving.
- Implementation: Translating ideas into practice through partnerships, pilot initiatives, and real-world solutions that help improve outcomes for people and communities affected by migration.
A Strategic Partnership for Change
Hosted by the Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School in Berlin and developed jointly with The Gere Foundation, this initiative creates a unique platform where research, public policy, and humanitarian engagement converge.
The project brings together leading academics, policymakers, diplomats, international organizations, and civil society actors committed to advancing evidence-based solutions and fostering constructive dialogue around migration.
At its core lies a simple conviction:
Migration should not be approached through fear or division, but through understanding, responsibility, innovation, and international cooperation.
By connecting research with action, and ideas with implementation, the initiative seeks to contribute to a more effective and principled response to one of the most complex issues of our time.
Our Commitment
At The Gere Foundation, we believe that addressing migration requires looking beyond borders and beyond immediate crises.
It requires understanding the conditions that force people to leave their homes, protecting the rights and dignity of those on the move, and supporting collaborative solutions that benefit both communities of origin and destination while creating sustainable opportunities for the future.
Existing approaches have too often fallen short of addressing the complexity of migration in a sustainable and humane way. We believe there is an urgent need to explore new pathways — grounded in evidence, innovation, shared responsibility, and courageous leadership. Only by understanding migration more deeply can we unlock the opportunities it creates for individuals, communities, and societies alike.
Through this initiative, we reaffirm our commitment to human dignity, social progress, international cooperation, compassionate leadership, and the belief that meaningful change is possible when knowledge, empathy, and action come together.
Because behind every migration story there are human lives, aspirations, challenges, and hopes for a better future.
We are all in this together.
Learn More
The Joint Initiative on Migration was publicly launched on June 4, 2026, at the Hertie School in Berlin, bringing together leading voices from government, diplomacy, academia, and civil society to advance a new conversation on migration, human dignity, and shared responsibility.
The initiative reflects a common commitment between The Gere Foundation and the Hertie School to better understand the deep causes of migration and to help build more effective, humane, and sustainable responses for the future.