The impact of narratives in potential migrants’ decisions in countries of origin and transit
Work Package 6
Months 11-23:
January 2022 – January 2023
Work Package 6 assesses the influence of different types of narratives on the attitudes and decisions of (potential) migrants in countries of origin and transit. Its specific objective is to provide an in-depth understanding of the relevance and impact of EU-funded information campaigns targeting potential migrants in Turkey and The Gambia. To do so, this WP:
- Establishes how different types of narratives influence (potential) migrants’ knowledge, attitudes, and decisions.
- Provides an in-depth understanding of the relevance and impact of EU-funded information campaigns targeting potential migrants in countries of origin and transit.
- Assesses the nature and effects of these narratives on (potential) migrants’ decisions concerning what is said in these campaigns and in what context.
Under WP6, fieldwork is carried out in Turkey and The Gambia, involving interviews and focus groups with potential migrant communities in cooperation with local partners and international organisations, such as UNHCR and IOM. This empirical research aims to: map the sources of information migrants rely on; analyse the contents and messages they relate to; identify the most relevant formats and messages for them; and understand how they evaluate different types of information.
As a result, three Working Papers are produced: two of them focusing on Turkey and The Gambia and another assessing the role of different information environments from a comparative perspective. The conclusions on the impact of EU-funded campaigns targeting potential migrants in countries of origin and transit are also put together in a Policy Brief aiming to advise policymakers in the design of these campaigns.
Led by: VUB-BIRMM (Florian Trauner) and ISF (Jan-Paul Brekke).
Related publications
This Policy Brief provides an analysis of the narratives of (potential) migrants of Gambian and Afghan origin. This brief focuses on how locally held narratives relate to the messages of EU-funded information campaigns, which usually aim at deterring irregular migration.
This op-ed summarises the research carried out in The Gambia as part of BRIDGES Work Package 6 on the role of narratives in migratory decision-making, thus reflecting on how young Gambians perceive and react to the messages put forward in EU-funded information campaigns.
This Working Paper compares the role of narratives in the decisions of potential migrants in the Gambia as well as Afghan transit migrants and refugees in Turkey, analysing how the messages promoted by EU-funded information campaigns compete with locally dominant narratives on migration.
This Working Paper explores how personal experiences of Afghan migrants and refugees residing in Turkey, as well as their access to networked information sources, create their dominant narrative on onward migration, building on 46 qualitative interviews interviews with Afghans in Istanbul.
This Working Paper investigates how locally dominant and EU-promoted narratives on migration interact and influence the decisions of potential migrants in the Gambia, building on focus groups and in-depth interviews with 60 Gambian youngsters who think about migrating abroad.
The EU is trying to discourage Africans from travelling irregularly to Europe, but can they be persuaded to stay in African countries? This op-ed shows how an EU-funded narrative is perceived by West African youth in The Gambia.
Though a systematic review of the literature on information campaigns targeting migrants, this Working Paper shows the different forms of information campaigns that exist, their set-up and frameworks, the actors involved, and the different types of narratives they propose.
