South American Perspectives on Balancing the Public Narrative on Migrants and Refugees

Human mobility is a defining feature of the world today, and when managed well, it positively impacts both migrants and refugees, as well as their countries of origin, transit, and destination. The meaningful inclusion of migrants and refugees in their host societies can also boost innovation, respond to labour market needs, support economic growth, and add valuable new perspectives to societies.

Amidst a significant and unprecedented level of migration and displacement in the Americas, as well as globally, public narratives have become deeply polarized on both a regional and global scale. Misinformation and myths have rapidly gained traction in shifting public opinion negatively towards migrants and refugees; while at the same time, evidence-based communication has struggled to dispel inaccurate and misleading views. In addition to contributing to public discontentment and eroding confidence in migration management, the spread of false narratives can fuel discrimination and acts of violence toward migrants and refugees.

Narratives that recognize the diverse, positive contributions of migrants and refugees to their communities can serve to build trust, belonging, and engagement at a community level, thereby supporting social cohesion and combatting the spread of xenophobia and discrimination. Balancing the public narrative on migrants and refugees is therefore essential in realizing the full benefits of comprehensive and well-managed migration for all.

While states play a central role in balancing public narratives on migrants and refugees, they are not the only actors with the capacity to make a long-lasting impact. Local governments, civil society organizations, businesses, the private sector, youth, and migrants and refugees themselves can make valuable contributions to balancing public narratives by leveraging their interactions with diverse audiences in society.

“South American perspectives on balancing the public narrative on migrants and refugees” will be explored in a virtual, multi-stakeholder dialogue between communications experts from the region in light of its widespread relevance. The session will build on the 2020 Latin American Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) thematic discussion on Migration Narratives by bringing practitioners working in the field of migration narratives together to take stock of diverse experiences in the region, and share information and best practices on communications on migrants and refugees in South America. The proposed session will identify key challenges, share existing practical communications tools, and explore how to create multi-stakeholder partnerships to work towards balancing the public narrative on migrants and refugees.

Participants will benefit from these exchanges and actionable recommendations to support the development of their own communications products or campaigns for their communities. By bringing together communications experts from states, local governments, civil society, and businesses, this session will tap into the unique value of the It Takes A Community (ITAC) campaign as a space for multi-stakeholder dialogue, engagement, and collaboration.

This session will be the first of two expert dialogues on migration narratives for ITAC.

• Facilitate the exchange of information and best practices between communication experts engaged in balancing the public narrative on migrants and refugees, including states, local governments, international organizations, civil society organizations, businesses, and migrants and refugees themselves;
• Identify concrete messages, strategies, and joint initiatives in South America that promote a balanced narrative on migrants and refugees; and
• Inform decision-makers and relevant stakeholders on the key trends, practices, and recommendations for South America, which will feed into the specific regional sections of the new Global Migration Narratives Outlook, which is being developed for the Global Forum on Migration and Development’s Roundtable 5 on improving the perception of migration in public opinion through, narratives, culture, emotion and rational discourse.

PANEL 1

• Carla Martínez Gallardo is the Communication Director for the foreign service of Ecuador. She runs the Department of Communication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador. Part of her work consists in the dissemination of the Ecuadorian foreign policy and the human mobility policy. Together with IOM and UNHCR, she leads the communication topics of the regularization campaign of immigrants in Ecuador. Carla has worked in planning, strategic conceptualization and tactical management of communication in NGOs, civil society organizations, public and private sectors.
• Gabriela Malo worked in communications for UNICEF and the World Food Program in Ecuador for 13 years, has a Master's Degree from the University of London in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration and represents the NGO Ending Violence Against Migrants in Ecuador, which promotes a public policy that takes into account the human mobility approach.
• Núria Margarit Carbassa was born and raised in Barcelona, and has lived in Brazil for 7 years. She is a psychologist from the University of Barcelona and has a master's degree in Social Psychology from the University of São Paulo. She worked in immigrant assistance services for 2 years in the areas of education and articulation, work, housing, and social participation. She is currently an advisor at the Coordination of Policies for Immigrants and Promotion of Decent Work, in the Secretariat of Human Rights and Citizenship of the Mayor's Office of São Paulo, where she works mainly with the areas of housing, technical supervision of personal care services migrant, as well as eradication of and fight against contemporary slave labor.
• Juliana Manrique Sierra has worked at the National Association of Businessmen of Colombia - ANDI since 2013, and is currently the Labor Director of the Legal Vice Presidency. In addition, she is a Professor specializing in Labor Law and Social Security at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, has a specialization in labor law and industrial relations from the Externado de Colombia University, and in human development management from the Eafit University. She has worked in companies in the manufacturing and commercial sector.
• Marta Luzes is a Specialist in the Migration Unit of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where she leads the research agenda on citizen perception and migration and the Citizen Perception Laboratory on Migration. Marta has more than 6 years of experience in the area of public policies and impact evaluations in Latin America and the Caribbean. She has an MA in International Development from the University of Warwick.

PANEL 2

• Nery Santaella Nani (as she is known to her online community) is a Venezuelan migrant, Director of Voices Of Venezuela and Winner of the 2022 Gene Dewey Refugee Award from USA for UNHCR. Over its two years the initiative has impacted around 640,000 migrants in Colombia to access services, programs and protection mechanisms in their host communities through the implementation of communication strategies such as Some Venezuelans (A program where everything is taught that a migrant needs to know to integrate in Colombia) and communication technologies such as a ChatBot with access routes to services, programs and protection mechanisms at the local level that was recognized by WhatsApp’s Chat For Impact and Turn.oi as one of the 10 worldwide solutions in the use of chatbots for social impact. She develops her work with a holistic vision that she educates from empathy on sensitive issues such as human trafficking, gender violence, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination.
• Juan Pablo Urgilés is the Creative Director and Co-Founder of Imán Transmedia. He creates, writes and directs transmedia, interactive and immersive projects that have been pioneers in Ecuador and selected in international festivals. In 2021, he won the POY Latam Award and the Crystal Owl for Best XR Social Impact in Stereopsia Latam. In 2020, he was selected for the Cannes XR Challenge, for the Virtuality Experience from Virtuality Paris and won the July edition of Kaleidoscope's Activist Lens Grant. Juan Pablo has written and directed immersive projects for organizations and brands such as UNHCR, UNESCO, and the European Union. Juan Pablo directed the film "On the other side" (Del otro lado) in partnership with UNHCR: https://ontheotherside360.org
• David Schurjin is the founder and creative director of Estudio Sur, a graphic design and visual communication studio specializing in issues related to the defense of human rights and environmental conservation. David and his team have dedicated their time, energy and knowledge to the communication and visibility of fundamental social causes, and to the construction of communication tools within the communities, always understanding it as a powerful tool for social transformation. Since then, the studio has worked hand in hand with organizations such as WWF Ecuador, Amazon Frontlines, Conservation Strategy International, Land is Life, Fundación Pachamama, CONAIE, Pan American Health Organization, Fundación Futuro, UNHCR, IOM, among others. Since 2021, the study has been developing the HUMANX project hand in hand with the IOM, which seeks to sensitize the Ecuadorian population around issues related to discrimination and xenophobia in this territory.
• Marianny Pacheco Rivero is Venezuelan, holds a Bachelor of Political Science from the Central University of Venezuela, and a Master's degree in Public Management from the Instituto de Estudios Superiores en Administración (IESA). For more than 9 years, she has worked in both public and private administration, performing different roles, addressing issues of entrepreneurship and local economic development, coordinating socio-educational programs, as well as designing and measuring the impact of social programs and public policies. She is currently part of the Ashoka Southern Cone team where she coordinates the migration and social innovation initiative "Hola América".

MODERATOR

• Julio César Daly is an economist, holds a Master's degree in Economics, and is the Director of the Xenophobia Barometer. He has consulting experience with the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Center for Development Studies (CEDE), UNHCR, and the IOM. He has worked on the study of the integration of Venezuelan people in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, as well as on anti-xenophobia initiatives in Latin America.

• Representatives from states, local governments, civil society organizations, academia, international organizations, and the private sector;
• Communications practitioners (public servants) from LAC countries and other regions who are actively working to balance the public narrative on migrants and refugees or are seeking to begin initiatives to balance the public narrative.

• The event will be a virtual workshop held in Spanish with simultaneous translation in English and will consist of two 90-minute sessions with a break between them.
• In the first session, 4 communications experts and a moderator will speak to the landscape of migration narratives in four countries in South America. They will discuss the state of narratives in each country and how the dynamics have shifted in recent years.
• In the second session, 4 communications experts and a moderator will discuss public messaging and narratives on migration, including the types of messages that have been effective in the region, who is able to deliver and balance narratives on migration, and who the “moveable middle” is. This session will also focus on relevant ‘influencers’, ‘narrative changers’, and/or ‘ambassadors’ from the region who have been successful in narratives work.
• Preliminary questions for the two sessions include:
  • What is the current reality on the ground in terms of public narratives on migration in South America?
  • What actions has your country, local government, organization or business taken to promote balanced migration narratives and/ or counter misinformation about migrants and refugees?
  • What key challenges or successes have been encountered in this work so far?
  • Looking ahead, what promising opportunities or partnership ideas do you see, that can help support a more balanced narrative on migration in South America?
  • Are there relevant influencers/ambassadors from the region who have been successful in narratives work in the region?
• The moderator will encourage active engagement and interaction with participants. Participants will also be invited to share existing resources and questions from their own work when they register for the event on the ITAC website, which will be included in the Repository of Practices for the campaign. Questions that will be asked include:
  • Why does your organization work on migration narratives?
  • What region does your organization work in?
  • What narratives on migrants and refugees are you trying to balance?
  • What tools or resources currently exist that can be drawn upon to inform the creation of new initiatives or campaigns?
  • What new tools, resources, research or data would be useful for actors involved in migration narratives work in the region?