Safe, orderly and regular migration requires good migration governance. Various international developmental organisations and UN agencies are committed to supporting their partners around the world developing the necessary capacities to successfully implement the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) as well as achieving all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, policy makers, facilitators and program managers report numerous challenges: capacity development is more than simply the provision of trainings – and it requires more than theoretical knowledge about the "migration-development nexus" and "triple win approaches". What is increasingly needed are state-of-the art participatory (online) didactics for migration governance, approaches to address subnational stakeholders (multi-level governance) and the integration of megatrends into capacity development measures at the individual and organisational level as well as in international migration regimes. By means of participant observation and the analysis of narratives, case studies and workshop materials from pilot trainings in the context of German development cooperation, the authors elaborate five "lessons learned" and outline innovative approaches for future capacity development programs for international migration professionals.