Section 6 – Community engagement and youth outreach

A key component of MaM is its peer-to-peer approach and the organic creation of returnee networks who lead community engagement and youth outreach activities. Such activities are powerful drivers for social cohesion, reconnecting returnees with their communities and contributing to an important transformation in the narrative of migration and return.  

Community engagement activities and youth outreach activities are tools that engage communities to raise awareness about the risks of irregular migration, the safe alternatives to irregular migration and helps improve social recognition for returnees. Examples of community engagement activities include townhalls, movie screenings, community theatre, focus groups, caravans and more! Examples of youth outreach include street art, student outreach, live arts events and career fairs. 

Step by step on how to implement this pillar:  

  1. Train Volunteers on how to run community engagement and/or youth outreach activities. 

  1. Organize a brainstorming session with MaM Volunteers to discuss:  

  • What is the objective of the activity? (Such as to raise awareness about regular migration information points for people from Community X.) 

  • Who is the target audience? (Are they students? Whole communities? Women only?) 

  • What activity will work best? (Based on the target audience, what activity will be best to engage them?) 

  • Key messages and content to create. 

  • Mapping of potential partners and/or local events that can support future Volunteer activities.  

  1. Invite Volunteers to prepare an activity plan which IOM can review and validate.  

  1. Assist MaM Volunteers in drafting invitation letters to targeted partners. Start administrative procedures for the implementation of activities as early as possible. 

  1. Assist MaM Volunteers in the distribution of tasks and ensure a good gender balance.  

  1. Prepare Volunteers to facilitate the activity and create content (video, photo, and/or articles) about the activity.  

  1. Let the Volunteers lead the activities and intervene only when necessary.  

  1. Ask Volunteers to draft an event report on the implemented activities and the lessons learned.  

Featured activities: 

Community theatre: In Thies, Senegal, MaM Volunteers conducted a caravan where they visited 30 communities in Thies and included a musical and theatrical performance, sharing of testimonies from returnee migrants, community discussions and a film screening. MaM Volunteers and local theatre troupe participated in a month-long creative residency to create a play about migration for the caravan. Social theatre is an approach widely used in West Africa. It stimulates debates on social issues, develops critical thinking and encourages social cohesion. 

Street Art Together: Street Art Together is an activity designed to strengthen community engagement and social cohesion through creative workshops in public spaces. This activity was led by MaM Volunteers in six countries.  

Bantabas: In The Gambia, a bantaba is a place around a big tree where elderly people of a community meet and discuss issues concerning their community and other relevant issues. The bantabas are very important in the local society and they were used in MaM as entry points to reach out to young adults to raise awareness about irregular migration and the local opportunities. 

Tips for future implementation:   

  1. Instead of planning one-off activities, plan activities in cycles. A cycle of activities means to provide the necessary capacity building and participation spaces to Volunteers followed by a consistent action that includes production of different pieces of content, follow up sessions.  

  1. Pre-test activities with samples of the target audience. Testing the activity allows one to see if the activity, as well as the content and messages shared during the activity, resonate with the target audience. If necessary, adjustments can be made.   

  1. If your country is featured on WAKAwell.info, train Volunteers beforehand on what information can be found on the website and then promote it during the activities. (WAKAwell.info is an online platform to learn more about migration procedures and local training, jobs and education in communities in West Africa.) 

  1. Organize briefing sessions before and after the activities. Before, to ensure everyone is clear on their tasks. And after, to quickly reflect on what worked well (or not well), and to be able to adjust for next time. It is also an opportunity to check in with the Volunteers to see if they feel good about the activity. Key partners can be invited to briefing sessions as well. 

“For me, the caravan and Global Migration Film Festival events were the most memorable. Seeing how much people appreciated our messages from their statements and other young people confessing to us that they were about to travel irregularly but have reconsidered their intention, convinced me that we were doing something very important for our country. I dreamt of a life with knowledge and to inspire others to greatness, MaM project has given me more than what I asked for.” Abdul, MaM Volunteer, Sierra Leone