Migration information campaigns: How to analyse their impact?

Abstract

Information campaigns aim at discouraging potential migrants from leaving their countries irregularly. This article discusses how to analyse the impact of such campaigns by identifying different research lines in the literature. The impact of migration information campaigns may be explored by, firstly, focusing on transnational migratory data and inter‐state relations (the macro‐level); secondly, by investigating their impact on narratives within societies (the meso‐level); and, finally, by investigating the micro‐level of their influence on migratory decision‐making. At each level, scholars face considerable methodological challenges to filter out the impact of campaigns. This article suggests that a promising research avenue is to analyse more widely the narratives and information sources upon which (potential) migrants rely. Opening up the research focus may avoid the risk of over‐emphasising the impact of information campaigns by only looking at them. It allows to better understand which sources of information actually influence migratory behaviour.

The Experience of Gambian Migrants in Libya: Understanding Factors that Influenced their Returned

“…IOM (2022) maintains that the government of the Gambia set up a Gambia Diaspora Directorate to prevent Irregular migration and strengthen Global Migration Dialogues and Bilateral Engagement with the European Union (EU). Cham and Trauner (2023) contend that the EU provides the biggest support to the government of the Gambia's migration governance. Bah & Batista (2022) argue that in 2020, the EU provided €365 million and also provided €38.95 million from the EU Technical Fund to development agencies working in Gambia to provide skill and employability programs for youth in the country.…”