The Mayoral Forum on Mobility, Migration and Development is the annual gathering of mayors and city leaders serving to promote globally relevant policy dialogue, foster the exchange of experiences in governing migration, and strategize on how to work collectively. The Forum has been held annually since its launch in 2013. The objectives of the Mayoral Forum are to:

• Promote a globally relevant policy dialogue for mayors and municipal leadership to strategize on how to work collectively, stay engaged, and gain support for their policies and activities relating to promoting economic development in a context of diversity;
• Support new and innovative approaches to urban governance in contexts of greater diversity, and to showcase city leadership in the implementation of migration policies for inclusive growth including through the implementation of the new 2030 UN Sustainable Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as espoused in the Quito Local Agenda endorsed by the Second Mayoral Forum on 13 November 2015;
• Share experiences and concrete recommendations on how to progress in leveraging the development outcomes of greater migration and mobility, and successfully managing diversity;
• Launch new initiatives with on the ground impact within and between cities, and agree on the parameters for such initiatives;
• Bridge macro and micro levels of governance by sharing information and insights on inter-governmental processes from the annual GFMD (taking place on 10-12 December 2016 in Dhaka), to the UN-Habitat III Conference (taking place on 17-20 October 2016 in Quito), and the UN Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants (19 September 2016), in addition to supporting in the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and the work of Regional Consultative Processes on migration; 
• Supplement existing regional and international initiatives by connecting with the inroads being made at the sub-national level.
• The First Mayoral Forum was launched on 19-20 June 2014 in Barcelona. Its official outcome – the Call of Barcelona – unanimously endorsed by the cities represented , stresses equality of rights, duties and opportunities as core bases for a cohesive society, “demand(ing) a dignified treatment and respect for all people, regardless of their origin”.

During its initial years, the Forum was supported by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the UN Joint Migration and Development Initiative (JMDI), IOM and the World Bank, with financial contributions from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the KNOMAD-World Bank, and its hosting cities. 

In 2018, Mayoral Forum took place during the “UN Migration Week” in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 8 December 2018 and was entitled “City Leadership in Implementing the UN Global Compacts”. It focused on three policy themes: 1) addressing special needs and reducing vulnerabilities; 2) providing access to basic services; and 3) empowering migrants, refugees and societies to realise full inclusion and social cohesion, including through employment and skills mobility. For each of these themes, cities identified what they are doing, what they further commit to do and what support they need in the areas of tools and partnerships. The Mayoral Forum closed with the signing of the Mayors’ Declaration, which outlines cities’ and other local and regional authorities’ commitments in relation to their efforts to contribute to the achievement of both the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). 

As of 2019, the Mayoral Forum will be integrated in the newly established GFMD Mayoral Mechanism, serving as the main annual gathering for city leadership to enter in a dialogue with peers as well as with national governments. The equally newly established Mayors Migration Council, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and IOM will serve as institutional partners for the GFMD Mayors Mechanism and the Mayoral Forum.