C4D Network

Global community of professionals working in Communication for Development

Techfugees: Covid-19 & Refugees Worldwide Status: Cases, Responses & Actions Taken [en]

The objectives of this mapping by Techfugees are:

  1. Giving visibility and monitor how the crisis is impacting refugees (health-wise, politically, etc) especially in the areas of poor media reporting

  2. Support Refugees: let people across the world know how they can contribute remotely in addition to donations

  3. Showcase how tech is a lifeline and can support refugees

  4. Contribute to the community – We hope this collaborative research & library can be useful to any future project on migration/COVID19

NRC: 10 things you should know about coronavirus and refugees

The world’s response to the Covid-19 crisis must encompass everyone, including those forced to flee their homes.The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is particularly concerned about the potential impact the global spread of coronavirus could have on vulnerable refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). They have developed this brief that can be read here: https://www.nrc.no/news/2020/march/10-things-you-should-know-about-coronavirus-and-refugees/

Participatory Mapping Toolkit: A Guide For Refugee Contexts ( Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, 2018)

This practical How-To Guide contains three separate sections.

  • Section One: The Power of Participatory Mapping explains how these methods are in fact a means of mainstreaming protection into operations.
  • Section Two: Refugee Contexts reviews all of the different factors an organization should consider before engaging in a project.
  • Finally, Section Three: Tools and Processes is the true heart of the toolkit – it is a series of powerful tools and processes that span the lifecycle of mapping, from remote to field mapping, quality assurance to map creation. It has everything you need to begin, and links out to more in depth resources such as our growing Github toolbox.

Click here for full toolkit.

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

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)

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.

Contact Us

Privacy Policy

Cookie Policy

Communication for Development Network
Registered address:
Finsbury House, New Street,
Chipping Norton, Oxon, OX7 5LL, UK
E-mail [email protected]
Non-profit Company Number: 7734410