Syria – C4D Network

Activism, Art-ivism and Digital Media to Reduce Marginalisation: Sharing Experiences and Lessons from Brazil, Kenya, Syria, and Costa Rica (eVoices, 2019)

May 5, 2019

This guide focuses on four emblematic case studies: (i) media activism in Brazil and how favela residents use digital media to foster community engagement and active citizenship; (ii) art-ivism, the use of art to serve activism causes, and how Kenyan artists use digital tools to promote a dialogue around human rights and power structures; (iii) digital media for social good and how development organisations working with displaced populations in Syria use digital technologies to foster peace and reconciliation in the country; and (iv) digital media for active citizenship and how the state of Costa Rica is working with arts and technologies to promote inclusion and well-being among the youth.

Click here for full guide.

Harmonised Information, Education and Communication Tools for Nutrition [Arabic] (Whole of Syria Nutrition Sector, 2017)

April 29, 2019

A set of harmonised Information, Education and Communication (IEC) tools for nutrition in Arabic which were developed by the Whole of Syria (WoS) nutrition sector as a result of a nutrition, food security and livelihoods workshop in October 2016 in Jordan, attended by global nutrition and food security cluster coordinators and country-level coordinators and partners, and a follow-up operational workshop in March 2017.

Click here for background details to Whole of Syria (WoS) nutrition sector.

Click here for full range of materials.

What role can drama play in conflict? A radio drama for Syria, qualitative research findings (BBC Media Action Brief, 2018)

June 25, 2018

Since 2011, Syrians have been living through a war and the challenges that prolonged conflict entails. Those who have fled overseas – often as refugees – and those who have remained in the country have lost family members and their homes, lack access to education and health facilities, and are living with the daily threat of violence. In such a context, ethnic and religious divides have intensified and armed groups have been increasingly recruiting young people in Syria and neighbouring countries.

Against this backdrop, between 2015 and 2017, BBC Media Action produced and broadcast 150 episodes of the thrice-weekly radio drama Hay el Matar (Airport District ). Funded by the European Commission as part of a broader project aiming to help build an open and inclusive society in conflict-ridden Syria, the classic soap opera aired on BBC Arabic radio and online and was accompanied by a weekly discussion programme. Set in a fictional Damascus suburb, Hay el Matar followed the daily lives of residents and featured love affairs, family feuds and tragedies. Each episode was scripted by a team of Syrian writers and touched on a different issue relevant to life in Syria (e.g. the ongoing civil war, migration, violence and radicalisation, economic insecurity and child or forced marriage).

Click here for full brief.

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.

Refugee Connectivity: A Survey of Mobile Phones, Mental Health, and Privacy at a Syrian Refugee Camp in Greece (Data & Society and Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, 2018)

April 21, 2018

This study provides new evidence of the critical role internet connectivity and mobile devices play in the lives and wellbeing of this population. Findings are based on a survey of 135 adults amongst the 750 residents at Ritsona Refugee Camp in Greece.

The report is the result of 2017 field research by Data & Society, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s (HHI) Signal Program on Human Security and Technology, and Centre for Innovation at Leiden University.

Women are less likely to own a mobile phone than men – 94% of men own a phone, compared to 67% of women. Mobile phone access is “important” to over 80% of refugees in this study.
Approximately 2 of every 5 refugees participating in this study may be classified as moderately to severely depressed according to the validated depression scale used in the survey. Each additional day an individual used a phone in the past week was associated with a reduction in their probability of being depressed.
Eighty-six percent (86%) said they would not be concerned about giving their personal information to a UN official. Yet for Facebook, 30% expressed concern about giving the social media site their personal information, 52% were unconcerned, and 15% were unsure. Thirty-three percent (33%) said they have been asked to provide information about themselves that they would rather not have given.
Ninety-four percent (94%) use WhatsApp, 78% use Facebook, about 38% use Google Translate and Google Maps, and 9% use Skype.
Privacy, trust, and information security are important factors for refugees. Many respondents had a sense of the people and platforms they would or would not trust with their sensitive information.
Refugees have nuanced views on privacy and information sensitivity. Response organizations must protect the privacy rights of refugees and understand that different technologies receive different degrees of trust.
The study demonstrates the need for further research and assessment of social context for any technology deployed for refugees.
In order to be able to deploy technological intervention effectively and responsibly, say the authors, social factors specific to refugee populations need to be understood.

Click here for full study.

Harmonised Information, Education and Communication Tools for Nutrition [Arabic] (Whole of Syria Nutrition Sector, 2017)

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

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