In October 2023, EPIM’s Steering Committee met in Brussels to approve its new Theory of Change, updated Approach and Priorities and a new Governance Model for the Fund.

This brought to an end the Process of Change – a fruitful year and half-long strategic review of EPIM’s achievements so far and where it is headed to next.

EPIM’s New Governance Model

The new governance model is structured around two main and permanent bodies: the Executive Council (including the Chair or Co-Chairs) and the new EPIM Forum, as well as several Bespoke Committee of Practitioners and Experts for each thematic cluster. The permanent bodies will expand the current Executive Committee and Steering Committee to turn them into spaces that are inclusive of non-funders whilst keeping all EPIM partner foundations involved.

EPIM’s governance is premised upon two key principles agreed upon during its process of change:

• Every strategy and funding decision in the future will be made by a combination of EPIM partner foundations and non-funders/externals. In other words, no strategy or funding decision in the future will be made by EPIM partner foundations exclusively again. This will require an equal balance between EPIM partner foundations and non-funders/externals within all governance and grant-making decision-making bodies.
  AND
• All decisions– whether on strategy, budget, or grants – should include practitioners and experts with relevant knowledge and connections to the issues, including those with lived experience of the matter.

The Executive Council (current Executive Committee) will serve as the executive decision-making body, and first point of contact for the team and for NEF.

The EPIM Forum (current Steering Committee) will serve as a wider general assembly, which approves the overarching multiannual strategy and provides a moment to annually review EPIM’s progress. In addition, the EPIM Forum’s annual meeting will also serve as a sensemaking moment convening EPIM partners and key actors in the migration ecosystem in Europe, separate from its internal deliberations, providing an annual check-in moment on the big picture and thinking that accompanies EPIM’s strategic priorities.

The Bespoke Committee of Practitioners and Experts for each thematic cluster will serve as the decision-making body for the thematic clusters approving strategy, including areas of intervention; budget allocations and final grants.