The Communication Initiative
Development action with informed and engaged societies
The Communication Initiative
As of March 15 2025, The Communication Initiative (The CI) platform is operating at a reduced level, with no new content being posted to the global website and registration/login functions disabled. (La Iniciativa de Comunicación, or CILA, will keep running.) While many interactive functions are no longer available, The CI platform remains open for public use, with all content accessible and searchable until the end of 2025. 

Please note that some links within our knowledge summaries may be broken due to changes in external websites. The denial of access to the USAID website has, for instance, left many links broken. We can only hope that these valuable resources will be made available again soon. In the meantime, our summaries may help you by gleaning key insights from those resources. 

A heartfelt thank you to our network for your support and the invaluable work you do.
Time to read
2 minutes
Print
a- a+
Published 3 years ago
Last updated 3 years ago
Read so far

Migrants as Messengers: the impact of peer-to-peer communication on potential migrants in Senegal

0 comments

Summary:

Findings from a new impact evaluation study provide robust evidence on the impact of peer-to-peer awareness raising on informed and safe migration choices among potential migrants in West Africa. The evaluation study conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the first randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of information campaigns in migration a unique type of evaluation that is considered the most rigorous and scientific way of evaluating the effect of a program or policy - and links closely to SDG indicator 10.7 on safe, orderly and regular migration. The evaluation responds directly to a previous study that identified clear evidence gaps in this field. The Migrants as Messengers campaign was conceived to pilot a new approach to awareness raising through peer-to-peer messaging. The campaign worked with returning migrants to share candid, authentic firsthand experiences of irregular migration to peers via video recordings or in person. The unique and novel element of the MaM campaign was that returnees communicated directly with potential migrants. The theory of change rests on the idea that potential migrants are more likely to be affected by real testimonies by returnees from their own country and region, rather than through messages from international organizations or NGOs.

Background/Objectives:

The number of people migrating from West Africa has increased significantly in recent years. Studies have repeatedly shown that many irregular migrants decide to journey to Europe with limited or biased information. A growing number of information campaigns designed to raise awareness of the potential risks of irregular migration in West Africa and to counter misinformation spread by migrant smuggling networks have been launched in recent years. However the effectiveness has not yet been assessed rigorously.

Description of Intervention and/or Methods/Design:

IOM conducted a randomized controlled trial to measure the causal impacts of the Migrants as Messengers (MaM) campaign on potential migrants perception, information levels, knowledge and intention to migrate (irregularly) to Europe. First, eight neighbourhoods of Dakar were selected according to average migration propensity, logistical feasibility and resource considerations. Second, enumerators conducted unstructured random walks around sites selected for the film screenings. Third, every respondent that met certain criteria (intention to migrate and willingness to attend a screening) was invited at random to attend either a MaM film event or an unrelated placebo film screening (with no informational content on migration) through which they were randomly allocated to either the treatment group or the control group. The study uses a longitudinal data set of approximately 1,000 interviews of potential migrants surveyed several times across a period of five months.

Results/Lessons Learned:

The results from the impact evaluation provide evidence that peer-to-peer communication has measurable effects on potential migrants perceptions and intentions related to migration. Potential migrants that participated in MaM treatment group events in Dakar felt 19 per cent better informed about the risks and opportunities associated with migration compared to the control group. Potential migrants that participated in MaM events in Dakar were 20 per cent less likely than the control group to report intention to migrate irregularly within the next two years. These effects are statistically significant and sizeable relative to similar social and behaviour change communication campaigns in other fields such as health and education.

Discussion/Implications for the Field:

As this evaluation is the first RCT on the effectiveness of information campaigns in migration, this pilot study is crucial to inform future programming on migration and add to the global scientific evidence base. However it is a first step in a broader learning process for the field of migration. It is hoped that this report will motivate further evaluations across agencies, countries and campaigns. Do campaign effects last beyond six months? How do information campaigns affect subgroups of people in different settings? How do other information channels (online, radio...) compare to peer-to-peer communications in the townhall setting?

Abstract submitted by:

Amy Rhoades
arhoades@iom.int
 

Source

Approved abstract for the postponed 2020 SBCC Summit in Marrakech, Morocco. Provided by the International Steering Committee for the Summit. Image credit: International Organization for Migration (IOM) Migrants as Messengers website.