providing up-to-date information and data regarding the respective country’s situation to the NCPs, which supports the production of various EMN outputs. Moreover, the NCPs are linked to the EU level, where the European Commission's Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) coordinates the EMN. The Commission, together with the Steering Board provides strategic guidance and oversight, aligning the EMN’s outputs with broader EU priorities. In addition, on the EU level, the NCPs collaborate with other agencies and institutions, such as the European Parliament, Eurostat, the European Union Asylum Agency, and Frontex, among others. The EMN also cooperates with international organizations such as the OECD and the IOM. The National Contact Points (NCPs) The National Contact Points are appointed by their respective national governments. While they are typically embedded in government structures, such as the Ministry of Interior or the Ministry of Justice, they can also be placed in research institutions, non-governmental organizations, or national offices of international organizations (IOM). The role of the National Contact Points The NCPs aim to understand the information needs of policymakers and the general public and respond to such needs by ensuring and encouraging an exchange of migration-related information. They are tasked with gathering, summarizing, comparing, and synthesizing migration-related data, which they contribute to the network. Thus, they ensure that the national data and perspectives are integrated into the network's outputs, facilitating information exchange, and supporting evidence-based policymaking at both the national and EU level. In this way, the EMN is a facilitator specialized in information exchange between a number of national, EU, and international actors active in the field of migration and asylum (European Commission, n.d.b; EMN Belgium, n.d., EMN Lëtzebuerg, n.d.; EMN Lëtzebuerg, n.d.a; Hellenic Republic Ministry of Migration & Asylum, n.d.). The main tasks of the NCPs consist of the following: 7