WELCOME to our last quarterly newsletter of 2015, keeping you up-to-date on our migration activities, events and publications at UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance. | ||
NEW PROJECTS |
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The Economic Impacts of Congolese Refugees in Rwanda: Labour Markets, Social Infrastructure and Aid Effectiveness As of 31 January 2015, Rwanda hosted nearly 85,000 Congolese refugees, mostly in camps. This research project, funded by UNHCR, will use a mixed-methods approach to study the lives of Congolese refugees in Rwanda and how their protracted presence affects the economic lives of Rwandan citizens. The objective of this research is to add to our understanding of the long-term, economic consequences of the presence of refugee populations on host communities and to create concrete policy advice on how to mitigate the potential negative effects of refugee presence on the economic lives of host communities. For more information, please contact Sonja Fransen. |
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Highly-Skilled Human Capital Movement Highly-skilled individuals—those who have completed tertiary education—have much higher chances of becoming emigrants. Small island states have experienced the greatest rates of emigration of their highly-skilled population, as have countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), a region with an estimated skilled emigration rate of 11 percent. Using 13 countries in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America as case studies, this new research project, funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), will explore the mobility patterns and demographic characteristics of highly-skilled emigrants within specific parts of the LAC region. For more information, please contact Dr. Michaella Vanore or Elaine McGregor. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS |
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Roundtable: Diaspora and Peace: What Role for Development Cooperation? On 10 December 2015, in Frankfurt a roundtable titled “Diaspora and Peace: What Role for Development Cooperation?” will explore advantages and risks of diaspora engagement in fragile countries of origin and in what ways development cooperation could and should support such engagement – and which risks have to be taken into consideration in this context. The event will allow practitioners and researchers to jointly develop recommendations for development cooperation in the context of diaspora and peace. UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance will provide thematic support and input to the event |
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Migration Seminars In conjunction with MACIMIDE, the Migration and Development research cluster at UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance organises a series of migration-related seminars to provide a platform to discuss the research output of researchers at the School and to invite external speakers to share their work. The 2015/16 series was opened on 30 September 2015 by Dr Ana Mosneaga (UNU-IAS) who presented “Disasters, displacement and livelihoods: The case of Japan’s Fukushima evacuees”. To join our mailing list and receive invitations to future seminars, or to express interest in delivering a seminar, please email Dr. Michaella Vanore. |
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PAST EVENTS |
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EISA Conference Sicily Conference From 22-26 September 2015, the 9th Pan-European Conference on International Relations was held in Sicily. In collaboration with the broader UNU Migration Network, UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance were part of a section titled "International Migration and International Security: from the Securitisation of Migration to Making Migration Secure for People?" The section contains seven different panels of which six were organised by UNU Migration Network members. Representing UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance, Dr. Michaella Vanore led a panel on Migration and development to and from conflict-affected countries. A meeting of the UNU-Migration Network was organised as a side event to the conference. |
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Public Lecture: Who is a Migrant? Who is a migrant? What is the difference between a migrant, an irregular migrant, an asylum seeker and a refugee? Why are so many people trying to enter Europe and what conditions do they face on this journey? What happens when people are refused asylum/ refugee status in Europe? How do migrants fare and face going home? These are some of the questions that were explored in a public lecture by Dr Katie Kuschminder who critically discussed migration drivers, routes, and challenges. The lecture was part of DocFest, Maastricht’s first cross-border documentary festival which took place on 18-19 September 2015. The lecture was followed by a screening of the documentary film 'Borders' by Dutch documentary maker Jacqueline van Vugt and a panel debate on how people deal with the topic of migration. View photos of the event. |
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HDCA Washington Conference From 10-13 September 2015, several researchers from UNU-MERIT including many from the Migration Group attended the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA) conference at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The theme of the conference was “Capabilities on the Move: Mobility and Aspirations”. Dr. Zina Nimeh was one of the organisers in the conference committee. Prof. Hein de Haas spoke in a panel during the migration plenary session of the conference. Additionally, Dr. Michaella Vanore led a panel session entitled “The use of multi-dimensional well-being indices to assess well-being in (post-) migration contexts”. Several prominent scholars including James Heckman, Martha Nussbaum and Ernesto Zedillo gave keynote speeches at the conference. |
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KNOMAD : National workshop on operationalising a dashboard of indicators for measuring policy and institutional coherence for migration and development Dr. Melissa Siegel and Elaine McGregor from UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance have been working together with the Thematic Working Group on Policy and Institutional Coherence within the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD) to develop a dashboard of indicators for measuring policy and institutional coherence for migration and development. On 21 July, a national workshop in Praia, Cape Verde, brought together national policy makers and experts to critically discuss the dashboard from the perspective of Cape Verde. Over the summer, the dashboard was piloted with 10 volunteer countries. On 9 September a consultation meeting in Geneva brought together key stakeholders to discuss the preliminary findings of the piloting exercise. The results are due to be presented at the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) meeting in Turkey later this year. |
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Supporting a Development Sensitive and Coherent Turkish Migration Policy In the last edition of our Quarterly Migration Newsletter, we reported on contributions made to the Sessiz Destek / Support of a Development Sensitive and Coherent Turkish Migration Policy Project which is coordinated by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD). As part of our ongoing collaboration, Prof. Ronald Skeldon participated in the second SessizDestek workshop in Ankara on 4-6 August 2015. Dr. Ozge Bilgili and Elaine McGregor will now develop a tool for policy makers to use when assessing the extent to which migration policies are in line with development objectives. |
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6th European Conference on African Studies From 8-10 July 2015, PhD fellow, Ayla Bonfiglio attended the 6th European Conference on African Studies in Paris, where she presented a paper entitled, "Exploring the displacement patterns of tertiary educated refugees in Kampala." The paper aimed to better understand the movement of refugees coming from areas of protracted or cyclical conflict, and the agency embedded within their movements, by critically examining the impact of higher education. The paper was based on data from the first phase of her doctoral fieldwork in Uganda, and included semi-structured interviews with 43 Congolese, South Sudanese, Somali, and Burundian tertiary educated refugees. |
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TRAINING PROGRAMMES |
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Migration Management Diploma Programme On 23 June 2015, we bid farewell to our third cohort of students to the Migration Management Diploma Programme (MMDP). The MMDP engages government officials and civil society representatives from 42 developing countries with experience in the field of migration management. Scholarships for students in this programme are provided to government officials with three or more years of working experience on a migration management topic by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MinBuza), the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). If you are interested in receiving further information about the programme please email or visit our website. |
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Online Courses For those who are interested but do not have the time to take a full time course in migration studies, UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance offer a number of specially designed online courses to suit the needs of busy professionals. Currently we offer three courses that can be started at any time: 1) Introduction to Migration Studies; 2) Migration and Remittance Effects; and 3) Comparative Migration Policy. Keep an eye on our website for the launch of a new online course later in 2015 on Internal Migration by Prof. Ronald Skeldon. |
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PUBLICATIONS |
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Determinants of diaspora policy engagement of Ethiopians in the Netherlands This article is one of few studies that examine how the diaspora responds to origin state diaspora engagement policies. It does so by analyzing the awareness of and participation of Ethiopian migrants in the Netherlands in five different diaspora policies implemented by the Government of Ethiopia. Dr. Melissa Siegel and Dr. Katie Kuschminder find that trust and migration experience are the most significant variables in determining knowledge of Ethiopian diaspora policies. Ethnic and Immigrant Minorities in Europe IOM Migration Profile Irregular Migration Routes to Europe and Factors Influencing Migrants’ Destination Choices Migration, Entrepreneurship and Development: A Critical Review. Remittances, Bonds and Bridges: Remittances and Social Capital in Burundi. Swiss Migration Partnerships |
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