Search ICMPD Publications

This trend assessment is part of an ongoing series launched by ICMPD’s Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate. These assessments analyse emerging trends related to the field of migration based on expert opinions and ICMPD’s knowledge and insight on the subject in the context of changing geopolitical situations and external shocks that may influence existing trends of migration. In this vein, this study examines the relationship between food security in Tunisia, compounded by the recent war in Ukraine, and migration in the region.

Emotions are regularly cited as vital components of effective strategic communication in the world of migration and beyond. However, until this report, there was relatively little guidance about how emotions should be used in migration policy communication. Emotions are vital to persuasion because attitudes have a cognitive (thinking) component and an emotional (feeling) component. Moreover, eliciting emotions causes involuntary but predictable physiological and behavioural reactions. Emotions can be used in communication to make one’s messages more resonant and impactful on both attitudes and behaviours, supporting policy objectives via persuasion.

Communicators should choose the desired emotional reaction according to the desired physiological and behavioural reaction using existing psychological schema, one of which this report analyses with 32 separate emotions and physiological reactions. Eliciting unsuitable emotions may have adverse reactions from audiences. Communicators can use this report’s recommendation and framework to ensure that the emotions, physiological and desired behaviours of their campaigns are aligned and thus effective. Narratives, personal-based messages, facial expressions, body language, and aesthetics can be used to create emotional resonance and reduce psychological distance. Frames, ordering (“emotional flow”), intensities, and certain combinations can also be used to elicit different emotions with predictable outcomes.

Emotions should be used to make one’s argument more resonant but the argument should not be simply based on the emotional reaction—the “appeal to emotion” logical fallacy. Indeed, for emotion-based communication to work, it should also use facts, values, identities, and efficacy. Emotion-based communication in the field of migration, although widely used, is largely untested—communicators should test different approaches but also can take lessons from other fields such as corporate, health, and climate change communications.

This report critically analyses 10 examples of good emotion-based migration communication, highlighting the different emotions and physiological reactions that they are likely to induce, and to what extent these are in line with the communication campaign’s stated objectives.

Rural communities in North Africa and the Middle East are confronted with a myriad of context-specific challenges. While food security is rising on the global and regional agendas, countries are experiencing a demographic decline in rural areas, important shortcomings in rural development and environmental degradation resulting from resource overexploitation and climate change. For concerned communities, the conjunction and intensification of these trends raises serious questions as to their ability to cope now and in the near future. This study is devoted to the analysis of the migration phenomenon in the South Mediterranean’s rural areas. It focuses on identifying and explaining rural trends of migration, including incoming and returning flows. To do so it draws on a multi-disciplinary and synthetic examination of the situation in five countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. The results and recommendations arising from the study are meant to consolidate knowledge on migration in the Euro-Mediterranean region in line with the target 10.7 of the UN sustainable development goals to achieve safe, orderly and regular migration. 
 

This study is carried out within the scope of Enhancement of Entrepreneurship Capacities for Sustainable Socio-Economic Integration (ENHANCER) Project, which is funded by the European Union and implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).

Migration sensitive Local Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (LEE) Analyses have been carried out in 11 provinces of Türkiye; Adana, Ankara, Bursa, Gaziantep, Hatay, İstanbul, İzmir, Kayseri, Konya, Mersin, and Şanlıurfa. The distinct feature of these analyses than the ones already conducted is the inclusive approach for Syrians under Temporary Protection (SuTP). Through ecosystem analyses, the challenges and opportunities for the SuTP entrepreneurs as well as of their relations with ecosystem actors have been identified and policy recommendations are presented for improvement of local entrepreneurship ecosystem focusing on SuTP entrepreneurs.

This study is to an extent a follow-up of a study EUROMED Migration IV programme carried out for the same subregions
in 2015-2016. It takes a different approach but with the same goal of developing a better understanding of
the reality and constraints of traditional and other media and how these elements affect their capacity to tell the
“migration story”.
More specifically, this study investigates how media coverage in some European countries of migration has changed
over the course of the 2019-2020 period, including the impact of social media on migration narratives, polarisation
and journalism, the influence of political dynamics on the media landscape and vice-versa, and the impact of
COVID-19 on migration narratives.

External author: Chris Elliott

Original title: "Analyse der Zusammenhänge zwischen Schutz, Entwicklungschancen und Entscheidungen über irreguläre Migration in einem Transitland"

Eleni Diker, Kevin O’Dell, Katrin Marchand, Sevinj Mastiyeva

This study examines expert knowledge and survey data on youth aspirations in Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia to see how the EU's Talent Partnerships might be used to increase youth employment and mobility within and from these countries.

External authors

Algeria: Yasmine Musette

Libya: Mustapha Kaaniche

Morocco: Hajar El Moukhi

Tunisia: Wajih Khallouli

Displacement is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges facing the world today. At the end of 2020, more than 82 million people across the globe were categorised as forcibly displaced, whether remaining within their countries of origin or having crossed an international border. If this group were a country, it would rank 20th in the world in terms of population, right after Germany. An increasing number of refugees – 16 million in 2020, or 4 million more than in 2016 – find themselves in a long-term situation of vulnerability, dependency, and legal insecurity, lacking, or actively denied, opportunities to rebuild their lives. Such situations are termed ‘protracted displacement’. While not captured in these statistics, internally displaced persons (IDPs) may also find themselves in situations of protracted displacement. While the protracted nature of many conflicts is a critical contributing factor, there is considerable room for improvement in policies and practices to more effectively address protracted displacement.

This is where the EU-funded Transnational Figurations of Displacement (TRAFIG) research project has aimed to contribute. Undertaking more than 2,700 interviews with displaced persons, policymakers, and practitioners in 11 countries across the Middle East, East Africa, and Europe, the TRAFIG project investigated the reasons why people end up in protracted displacement situations and what coping strategies they use, thus identifying possible courses of action for policymakers.

This handbook shares 10 takeaways for strengthening policy responses to protracted displacement that have emerged from this endeavour, with empirical examples and policy recommendations, as well as a non-exhaustive list of promising practices for inspiration. These 10 points centre on the TRAFIG project goal of identifying solutions that are better tailored to the needs and capacities of displaced persons.

Ran jointly under the EUROMED Migration V (EMM5) and “EuroMeSco: Connecting the Dots” projects, the survey “Towards sustainable and mutually beneficial migration partnerships in the South Mediterranean” aims at reflecting on migration partnerships between the EU and Southern Mediterranean countries. This report analyses the main results from this exercise, which was conducted amongst experts on migration from the EU’s South Partner Countries (SPCs) in June and July 2021. It provides new evidence on each country’s understanding on how migration partnerships should be achieved in view to advance cooperation for the benefit of migrants and all communities involved in the process.

Authors: Jenny Gilbert und Alexis Mclean

Magda Abu-Fadil

Dr. James Dennison