We learn from one another. Each piece below brings a different and valuable perspective on communicating about migration and migrant integration. Contact us to contribute at NETCOM@oecd.org.
Recent articles
Venezuelan migrants in Colombia: "Migration is a story about integration, not a migrant´s tale"
By Andrés Segura
1.7 million Venezuelans have migrated to Colombia in the past five years. In an effort to increase acceptance towards migrants, the government follows a communication strategy that lays the focus on common goals and an active role of host communities.
Migrant integration: How Handbook Germany community builds to overcome barriers
OECD Podcast with Mahdis Amiri
Effective communication is key when it comes to helping migrants get to know their host country, integrate in their local communities and have access to essential public services. What are best practices in communication with migrants? How can communicators successfully establish interactive spaces online to respond to migrants’ information needs? And how can governments make sure to reach particularly vulnerable migrant groups in times of crisis? Mahdis Amiri, English Editor of the media outlet Handbook Germany, talks about their innovative approach to provide essential news and information to migrants.
To learn more about migrant integration, consult the OECD indicators on migrant integration.
Find more from OECD Podcasts or OECD on Twitter at @OECD and @OECD_Social
Lessons learned: Studying the effects of awareness raising campaigns in origin countries
By Jasper Tjaden
In recent years, many countries and organisations have implemented awareness-raising campaigns in origin countries to tackle irregular migration. The IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) piloted a series of studies to assess the effectiveness of such campaigns.
The information seeking behaviour of migrants on social media - evidence from Germany
By Tobias Stapf
The research institute Minor from Berlin, Germany, uses an innovative "digital streetwork" approach to gather evidence on what kind of information migrants are seeking and where they look for it, to help develop more efficient information services for migrants.
How communication supports integration, community engagement and migration governance in Milan
By Cosimo Palazzo
Since October 2013, more than 130,000 asylum-seekers have chosen Milan as a transit spot towards other European cities or as a safe place where restarting their life. Several reception facilities were created throughout the city, and the Municipality of Milan decided to play a positive role in managing the reception of asylum-seekers and refugees.
A single point to information about Sweden and the Swedish society
By Maria Nobel
The website www.informationsverige.se was built to help people, who were granted a residence permit, to better understand how everything in Sweden works. The aim is to help empower and guide so that the transition into a new society and country as well as the possibilities for work could go quicker. The website’s target groups are asylum seekers and newly arrived.
The close-up, a human element of migration reporting
By Barbara Kužnik
It was in the mid-nineties, when I joined a workshop as Service Civil International Fellow at alternative local radio LORA in Zurich, to get hands-on training on how to produce a radio feature. The topic was refugees from ex-Yugoslavia. I was only nineteen at the time, with no real journalistic background and no reporting skills. As Slovenian, I was closer to the focus group because of the language, and therefore I became a bridge between the Bosnian refugees and the rest of the world. What was supposed to be a learning exercise became one of the most challenging experiences I’ve ever faced. But also the most powerful one, as it gave me a close-up of something I only assumed I understood – forced migration. In the years since, I have returned to the topics of migration and integration over and over again in my work as a journalist.
Reporting the New Arrivals
By Kate Lyons, The Guardian
In the spring and summer of 2015, as thousands of people crossed into and across Europe, every newspaper in Britain devoted front page after front page to the so-called European migration crisis or refugee crisis.
For weeks, there were stories of people who were boarding leaky boats, walking and hitchhiking, being tear-gassed and trafficked, in a desperate attempt to reach western Europe. Then in March 2016, the EU-Turkey deal came into effect, boat arrivals slowed and the coverage all but stopped.
Immigration Matters in Canada: A social marketing case study
By David Hickey
How did it begin?
In November 2017, the Government of Canada announced a plan to increase gradually the number of immigrants to be welcomed over the next three years. As a result, immigration will trend toward 1% of Canada’s population in 2020.
At the time, our public environment tracking was picking up some shifts in how Canadians view immigration. While Canadians tend to see the value of immigration nationally, they are less likely to understand how it benefits them personally, in their communities.
What happens for migrants as they settle into their new country?
OECD Podcast with Thomas Liebig
Migration integration is a vital issue - and a long-term investment that pays off, says Thomas Liebig of the OECD. If governments succeed in effectively integrating migrants, then everyone wins. The social and economic costs of migration drop and the benefits of migration grow, for migrants, communities and countries alike.
To learn more about how migrants are settling in to their host countries, consult the OECD indicators on migrant integration.
Find more from OECD Podcasts or OECD on Twitter at @OECD and @OECD_Social
Migrants are a lot like you
Interview with Tim Dixon, Co-founder of More in Common
Research shows that best way to overcome anxieties about those different than us is to get to know them, says Tim Dixon, co-founder of More in Common.
Yet today, we are actually more likely to mix only with people like ourselves and less likely to encounter difference. This is happening not just on social media, but also in our communities. What can we do to promote positive engagement in our societies?
More in Common is a new international initiative, set up in 2017 to build communities and societies that are stronger, more united and more resilient to the threats of polarisation and social division.
Visit the More in Common website or reach them on Twitter @MiC_Global.