Migration – Page 2 – C4D Network

When Facts Don’t Matter: How to Communicate More Effectively about Immigration’s Costs and Benefits (Migration Policy Institute, 2018)

February 6, 2019

At a time when people have more information at their fingertips than ever, it feels as though it has become equally easy to share it widely or to ignore, discount, and discredit it. Several factors have contributed to this state of affairs. New technologies have given a platform to a wider range of voices, but this has also meant that unvetted information and politically motivated “fake news” find their way more easily into the bloodstream of public debate. Human nature also shapes how people consume and recall information, making them more likely to resist information that contradicts their existing beliefs and personal experiences.

Nowhere has this been more apparent than in debates about hot-button issues such as immigration. Whether in the run-up to the 2016 UK referendum on Brexit, elections across Europe and North America, or responses to the 2015–16 European refugee and migration crisis, emotionally charged and anecdotal narratives about immigrants, refugees, and their effects on receiving communities often seemed to drown out arguments made on the basis of robust data and evidence.

Yet policymaking in democratic societies relies on the engagement of an electorate able to access and think critically about new information, and to adjust their views accordingly. This report explores why there is often a pronounced gap between what research has shown about migration trends and immigration policy outcomes and what the public believes. To do so, it explores the social psychological literature on why people embrace or reject information, as well as recent changes in the media landscape. The report concludes with a reexamination of what it takes to make the “expert consensus” on these issues resonate with sceptical publics, including recommendations for policymakers and researchers seeking to communicate more effectively the costs and benefits of immigration.

Click here for full report.

Anti-refugee Mobilization in Social Media: The Case of Soldiers of Odin (Social Media + Society article, 2018)

February 6, 2019

Article abstract: In the wake of the international refugee crisis, racist attitudes are becoming more publicly evident across the European Union. Propelled by the attacks in Köln on New Year’s Eve 2015 and harsher public sentiments on immigration, vigilante gangs have emerged in various European cities. These gangs mobilize through social media networks and claim to protect citizens from alleged violent and sexual attacks by refugees. This article analyzes how racist actors use social media to mobilize and organize street politics targeting refugees/immigrants. The aim is to explore the relation between social media and anti-refugee mobilization in a time of perceived insecurity and forced migration. The study uses the vigilante network Soldiers of Odin as a specific case, looking at (1) how they communicate through social media, (2) how they are represented in the large “alternative” space of right-wing online sites, and (3) how they are represented in traditional mainstream news. Using a critical adaption of Cammaerts’ theory of “mediation opportunity structure,” the article explicates the (inverted) rationale of racist online networks. Using quantitative and qualitative content analysis, both social media content and traditional news media are examined. The results show that although racist actors succeed in utilizing many of the opportunities embedded in social media communication and protest logic, they are also subject to constraints, such as a lack of public support and negative framing in news media. The article calls for more research on the (critical) relationship between uncivil engagement and social media networks.

Click here to view the full article.

How to Establish and Manage a Systematic Community Feedback Mechanism (IFRC, 2018)

August 24, 2018

This step-by-step guide focuses on migration programmes but can be adapted and used in other contexts. It aims to support Red Cross and Red Crescent staff and volunteers to establish and manage a systematic community feedback mechanism using the Ground Truth Solutions’ Constituent VoiceTM methodology.

The guidance provided here complements the Red Cross Red Crescent Guide to Community Engagement and Accountability and the Monitoring and Evaluation Guide and describes how to use community feedback to improve Red Cross and Red Crescent work.

The guide provides an overview of the approach together with guidance and tools for designing and implementing feedback cycles that bring continuous and real-time data flows into day-to-day decision-making. This contributes to better and more accountable programming and helps establish structures where people’s opinions are listened to and acted on, especially when making decisions that directly affect them.

Click here for guide.

Children’s Screen Content in an Era of Forced Migration: Facilitating Arab-European Dialogue – Documentaries, Distribution, Ethics (Workshop Briefing, 2018)

June 18, 2018

This workshop briefing, the second in a series of three, is part of a project focused on the representation of refugee and migrant children in European screen content for children. Hosted by the Danish Film Institute (DFI) on 19 and 20 March 2018 as part of the annual Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, CPH:DOX, two half-day workshops offered an opportunity to explore how the topic is handled in children’s content made in Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK and Germany.

In all these countries, screen content that focuses on children newly arrived in Europe is rare. The few examples to touch upon these issues are commissioned and broadcast predominantly by public service broadcasters (PSBs), including Danmarks Radio (DR, Denmark), Nederlands Publieke Omroep (NPO, Netherlands), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, UK) and Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF, Germany).

The Copenhagen workshops discussed formats that inform children through factual representations rather than fiction.

Click here for full briefing.

Wellbeing and Protracted Urban Displacement: Refugees and Hosts in Jordan and Lebanon (IDS Report, 2018)

May 20, 2018

The war in Syria, now in its eighth year, has led to the mass exodus of the Syrian people. Lebanon and Jordan have achieved a remarkable feat by hosting millions of refugees, with many having located to urban areas, where the great majority of local populations are already situated.

The war has slowed down the Lebanese and Jordanian economies. Simultaneously, the refugee influx has put tremendous pressure on urban systems providing housing and basic services (health, education, water, sanitation, electricity and waste collection) that were already strained prior to the crisis. The mass arrival has seen accelerated house rent inflation, severely diminished water supplies, daily power outages, higher unemployment rates, rising poverty, and the inability of health-care and education providers to cope with demand.

Charged regional politics are severely challenging delicate societal and inter-communal harmony. There are large discrepancies in perceptions of inequality and threats between Syrian refugees and host groups. Many refugees complain about their discriminatory treatment by local business and state institutions, whereas hosts consider Syrian refugees as disproportionately benefiting from international aid and an economic threat.

This research project, conducted between April 2017 and February 2018, aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) what modalities of reception drive what kind of gendered wellbeing outcomes for refugee and host communities in cities across Jordan and Lebanon? What explains these outcomes? (2) in what ways can policymakers, practitioners and donors support modalities of reception that promote gender equitable, improved wellbeing outcomes for urban refugees and host communities?

Click here for full report.