Diaspora Engagement in Information Campaign on Migration: New Approaches!
You are cordially invited to the IDEAL-M final conference on the 9th of September 2022.
The IDEAL-M is an Asylum Migration and Integration Fund supported program. Its final conference provides a unique opportunity to bring together key stakeholders in awareness raising on realities of irregular migration to Europe focusing on Senegal and the Senegalese diaspora. The conference is the final event of the project and it is organised in Cologne, Germany on 9th of September 2022. The event will invite around 60 participants and stakeholders from the EU institutions, academic institutions, local CSOs, public institutions, the Diaspora and Diaspora organisations. The general objective of the conference is to share experiences on informing potential migrants from Africa about dangers of irregular migration and the potential of legal path-ways to migrate to Europe. It will also highlight the role of the Diaspora in raising awareness about the dangers of irregular migration and misinformation about the journey to Europe as well as the actual conditions when reaching the hosting countries. As well as promote the Diaspora in disseminating information on legal path-ways to move to Europe.
Through the IDEAL-M project we have developed an innovative awareness raising and information campaign directed towards potential migrants from Senegal to counter the narratives of smuggler networks and human traffickers. The campaign was implemented in Senegal and the outcomes will also be presented in the final conference, in addition to the IDEAL-M toolkit directed to inform and support relevant activities in the future.
The IDEAL-M Project:
The project IDEAL-M engages the diaspora to raise awareness about the dangers of irregular migration and misinformation about the journey to Europe as well as the actual conditions when reaching the hosting countries. The project was focused on Senegal as a country of origin and assessed the needs of Senegalese people when arriving in European countries, especially Germany where there is a higher concentration of people from that origin. In addition to informing about irregular migration, IDEAL-M has an objective to highlight the potentials for legal migration and to provide actual information for those who might be interested in migrating, through mobilisation of diaspora communities already settled in Europe. Previous studies have shown the usefulness of such action of creating information with the support of Diasporas, where a counter-narrative to smuggler groups can be projected by a channel that would be trustworthy for the receivers of the messages.
IDEAL-M has piloted this new approach of engaging the diaspora as informants to provide first-hand information on irregular migration to potential migrants from Senegal. The project was designed as an information campaign over 4 months through online and offline mediums. The conference aims to share the important lessons learned throughout the project, the importance of engaging the Diaspora on migration and some of the tools that can be used for future similar projects.
For more on the project please click here: https://www.ideal-migration.com
Project partners:
- The University of the Peloponnese (UoP)(Greece)
- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM)(Spain)
- The Greek Forum of Migrants (GFM)(Greece)
- African Media Association Malta (AMAM)(Malta)
- Migrafrica (Germany)
- The Hellenic Agency for Local Development and Local Government (E.E.T.A.A.)(Greece)
- The PRSD – Providers of Social Responses to the Development (Portugal)
Participation is free of charge!
You can also participate in the conference remotely online!
But, please register here: https://forms.gle/jszAAZbwYkKP3g2T6
Conference date and location:
09 September 2022 from 13:00 – 18:00
VHS Studienhaus: Cäcilienstraße 35, 50667 Köln
Preliminary program:
13:00 – 14:00 Reception and Lunch
14:00 – 14:10 Keynote speech
14:10 – 14:30 Presentation of the project
14:30 – 15:00 Presentation campaign and the IDEAL-M toolkit
15:00 – 15:30 Input from Dr. Sandra Morgenstern:
“ Information and Awareness-Raising Campaigns – Facts and Assumptions“
15:30 – 16:00 Input from Dr. Bernd Beber:
“ Irregular Migration and Misinformation in Nigeria: The evaluation assesses the effects of providing information on risks and outcomes through door-to-door campaigning and via family members abroad on actual migration decisions.”
16:00 – 16:15 Coffee Break
16:15 – 17:00 Panel discussion
„The role of the diaspora“
17:00 – 17:15 Input from Serge Palasie
17:15 – 18:00 Synergies and cooperation workshop
18:00 – 18:15 Closing
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