#MMN Meetup: How can the Ghanaian fashion industry become a resource for sustainable alternatives to migration?
Talk and exhibits by Nuel Bans (founder & editor-in-chief of Debonair Afrik, a Ghanaian-based digital media publication) and Rhoda Wedam (founder and CEO of the Song-Ba Empowerment Center, Ghana)
What is needed to develop sustainable business opportunities in the fashion industry? Which role does second-hand clothing play for Ghana’s entrepreneurs? And how can local entrepreneurs become successful (inter)nationally? During our next #MMN meetup, our two guests will provide insights into the challenges and successes of Ghanaian entrepreneurs in the fashion market and discuss how sustainable fashion can create positive alternatives to migration.
The event will also feature two photo exhibitions, entitled In The Days Of Us and Fast Enough To Trash
About the speakers:
Ekuban Emmanuel, popularly known as Nuel Bans, aims to support Africa’s young and emerging fashion talents. He is a creative collector for The Style Lounge, a platform that scouts for and nurtures emerging fashion in Africa, Ambassador to Global Fashion Exchange, and founder & editor-in-chief of Debonair Afrik. Debonair Afrik is a Ghanaia-based digital publication covering fashion, lifestyle, publishing, and current events. It was founded in 2015 as a neo-Africanism publication and serves as an online news portal for Ghanaians and others in the Sub-Saharan region.
Rhoda Wedma is the founder and CEO of the Song-Ba Empowerment Centre. She focuses on supporting women and girls without formal education, who travel to urban cities as head porters (Kayayo) and helps them identify sources of income. She is also the #MMN local coordinator for the Northern Region, where she focuses on helping the youth in the region have access to accurate information regarding migration and learn about employment and educational opportunities they can pursue in their area.
When? Saturday 19.02.2022, 5-9pm (CET) Where? r0g_office, Knobelsdorffstr. 22, 14059 Berlin and /migrantmedianetwork
According to a 2021 World Health Organization Report, https://www.who.int/news/item/09-03-2021-devastatingly-pervasive-1-in-3-women-globally-experience-violence, at least one in every three women and girls experience violence in their lifetime. In conflict and post-conflict settings, incidences of violence against women and girls (VAWG) are exacerbated, resulting in increased adverse social, economic, health and psycho-social effects. In an attempt to prevent and respond to the occurrence of VAWG in humanitarian settings, women and self-organized groups are working to create safe spaces for women and girls.
As commemorated by UN Women every year, this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women had the Theme ‚ ‘Orange the World-End violence against women now’. The 16 days of activism were observed from the 25th of November to the 10th of December 2021. During this time, UN Women urged the world to build on new actions and strengthen its commitments for a violence-free future against women.
In our monthly series of “Women Empowering Women “, the Migrant Media Network (#MMN) hosted its first edition of the diaspora meet-up in Berlin, Charlottenburg. The discussion that marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women centered on women in migration with a theme ‘Creating safe spaces for migrant women ‘.
The event featured two female activists; Isatou Barry, a trainer and FGM activist with Terre des Femmes and Jennifer Kamau, co-Founder and women rights activist of the International Women Space* Berlin. Both of whom are active speakers on violence against women and empowering women. The two-hour discussion centered around the causes and effects of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), violence against women and girls, women’s rights in migration and asylum policies.
A recent study by the World Health Organization (WHO) https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/fgm/about/en/ recognizes FGM as an international human rights violation and shows that female genital mutilation has no health benefits but harms girls and women in ways such as chronic genital infections, severe menstrual cramps, painful sexual intercourse and dysfunction, complications during childbirth as well as depression and trauma. Most – if not all – traditional circumcisers have no medical background. They apply old, traditional techniques, leading to the death of some girls/women during the procedure.
Refugees and migrants have not been able to achieve sufficient self-reliance. With this in mind, there is a need for refugees and migrant women to have access to jobs and educational opportunities to enable them to defend themselves against violence, sexism, racism, the violence of the asylum system and migration policies by documenting, making visible, and publishing their stories in their own words. This will also enable them to build their livelihoods.
“We are fed up with people speaking about us and not with us -women’s resistance is often oppressed, and women’s history hidden or ignored”, Jennifer Kamau of the International Women Space (IWS) elaborated, adding that IWS focuses more on asylum policies and what effects the policies in place have on migrant women.
Both speakers asked for more dialogues on women’s rights and violence against issues affecting women such as asylum policies, FGM, sexual harassment and rape, noting that violence against women and girls is a human rights violation that has been perpetuated for decades. They furtherurged a “stand against rape culture” each case, according to them, is unique to the cultural sensitivities and barriers of each community. Isatou Barry observed that; in many cultures, being shamed and stigmatized for standing up against abuse can isolate an individual from their community. For example, a non-circumcised girl is excluded in the societies of circumcised girls.
They also recommended teaching the younger generation and learning from them should serve as an example for them to shape the way they think about gender, respect and human rights. “Start conversations about gender roles early, and challenge the traditional features and characteristics assigned to men and women,” said Isatou Barry.
Jennifer Kamau emphasized the importance of listening and believing the survivors. “When a woman shares her story of violence, she takes the first step to breaking the cycle of abuse. It’s therefore, on all of us to give her the safe space she needs to speak up and be heard”. She added that women on the move need gender-sensitive migration and asylum policies. The specific needs of migrant women and girls can only be addressed through gender-sensitive migration and asylum policies, including specific protection and support mechanisms
In conclusion, Jennifer stressed that migrant and refugee women in Europe face particular challenges, including violence, difficulties in access to justice, a likelihood to fall into precarious situations, risks of abject poverty and social exclusion. Migrant refugee and asylum-seeking women and girls also often face double discrimination. They are sometimes restricted within their communities by cultural codes, customs, religion or tradition and by different stereotypes and institutional barriers in host countries. This is often challenging because they are perceived as different from European culture(s).
The Migrant Media Network (#MMN) monthly series of “Women Empowering Women “is an initiative by our Gambian/ diaspora community manager Nyima Jadama, our women and migration expert ‘coordinator. This blog aims to tell stories of women in migration, especially from The Gambia, focusing on irregular migration.
https://i0.wp.com/migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/panelists.jpeg?fit=1086%2C724&ssl=17241086adminhttps://migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MMN_logo.jpgadmin2021-11-30 21:43:002021-12-31 09:22:44Women paving ways for a violence-free future for women by creating safe spaces.
The Migrant Media Network is hosting a meetup on the 24. November 2021 from 18-20hrs, CET that focuses on the experiences of African diaspora communities in Germany.
This meetup will focus on women and migration, specifically on how to create safe spaces for migrant women. The meetup will take place at the r0g_agency office, Knobelsdorffstr.22, in Berlin-Charlottenburg.
The event will feature talks by Jennifer Kamau, co-founder of International Women* Space and Isatou Barry, an activist fighting against the practice of Female Genital Mutilation.
To join us, please send us an email at info@migrantmedia.network or message us via Instagram or FB. Registration is open until Monday, November 15th. The meetup is open to anyone interested in the topic; you do not need to be a member of a diaspora community to attend.
2G rules will apply: you must either be fully vaccinated against covid-19 or have proof of recovery to attend.
https://i0.wp.com/migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/MMN_facebook_banner.jpg?fit=1280%2C487&ssl=14871280adminhttps://migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MMN_logo.jpgadmin2021-11-09 12:12:172022-02-23 13:24:29#MMN meetup: Women and Migration
Facing invisible borders, every year thousands of people from developing countries apply for a visa to western countries and face an often tedious visa application process. They worry about whether they have the right documents or whether a typo might put their application directly into the reject pile and anxiously await a response. At best, successfully getting a visa is a completely mystifying process. At worst, after doing all the hard work, their visa gets denied.
Are the strict regulations governing access to the consulate and the complicated application process strategically designed to induce fear? If so, why?
The Borders of Fear Meetup: Facing Invisible Borders was organized by the Disruption Network Lab and held on October 28, 2020 from 19:00-22:00 at ACUD Macht Neu in Berlin’s Mitte district. It was hosted by Thomas C. Kalunge of the #MigrantMediaNetwork. Thomas sought to answer questions related to the journey of a potential migrant to Germany using design thinking.
Migrantmedianetwork provides young Africans with reliable information and training on migration issues and social media, in order to help others make informed decisions and be aware of safer migration options to Europe.
The German & European community was of particular focus in this #MMN meetup, with 13 Germans and other European citizens of the German community taking part in the event that welcomed 25 participants overall. Thomas began the evening by presenting on how a design thinking methodology could help us gain a deeper knowledge of the situation. He then took participants on a hypothetical journey that detailed the steps an individual coming from a developing country would have to take in order to apply for a visa to come to Germany as a migrant. In walking participants through this visa application process, he was able to make the invisible border visible, showing all of the hurdles that exist along the way.
As of July 2020, the German passport was ranked as the 3rd strongest passport in the world: German passport holders can travel to about 189 countries without a visa. The problems surrounding visa applications was therefore new to Germans, or citizens of the European Union, and highlighted the inequity faced by others whose citizenship does not bestow upon them these privileges. The evening event was designed to be experiential in nature and covered the following topics:
Role Play: Visa Application Process All participants were briefed and asked to arrange their documents in order and proceed to the gate for security control before they proceeded to the consulate. Consulate setup: There were three consulates onsite ready to process the visa application forms of the participants. The participants went through two security checks: all required documents were checked, and electronic gadgets were left at the gate by the security checkpoint.
5 out of 20 participants were granted a visa, leaving 15 participants without visa. Participants were rejected based on the following criteria:
Failure to answer odd questions
Failure to submit required documents
No reason given
Through role playing participants were able to in a small way experience the nature of the visa application process in developing countries.
After this, the group discussed and sought answers and solutions to these questions:
What are the challenges that potential migrants face in the migration process, especially for those from developing countries?
Why do some of the migrants choose to not even try to apply for a visa and instead take the irregular (backdoor) path, even in cases where the backdoor path costs more money than the regular path?
Are the strict regulations governing access the consulate and the complicated application process strategically designed to induce fear? If so, why?
Discussing policy and public dialogue In the past, the German government has called for public dialogue and suggestions for how to make the visa application process more humane. Yet at the same time, more border security was put in place and they have begun to strategically grant fewer visa. This led to demonstrations in front of embassies in developing countries and drastically increased irregular (backdoor) migration.
Based on this information and the role play, participants where divided into three groups to brainstorm and discuss these questions:
Have you applied for visa before?
How was your application?
What made it difficult or easy for you?
How did this process make you feel?
Do you see any fault in the process?
How can this process be made more effective?
What could be changed about the process?
Outcome The workshop was designed to foster discussion and allow participants to gain a better understanding of the hurdles that stand in the way of applying for a visa and using the prescribed path to migration. These goals were met. Participants came up with ideas and solutions they were ready and willing to share with the German government in the context of the public dialogue surrounding migration and the visa application process. Ideas garnered from the discussions:
Provide clear information on the official websites
Websites need to be functional and user-friendly
There should be offline info-centers
Provide clear information on the reason for a rejection
More funding to have sufficient & well-trained staff
Greater transparency of the process
Decentralized Consulates / Agencies for more accessibility
Ban discriminating & intimidating behavior on the part of agency or staff
Another group argued that the process should be free and would be more fair if the following were implemented:
Personnel should be well-informed / educated in order to provide accurate answers
The process should be anonymous
Provide a clear checklist of requirements/ documents (available online and offline at the consulate)
Forbid questions related to socio-economic status
Provide visa assistance through simple language forms and someone who does a pre-check for accuracy and typos
Examining the root causes of problems more extensively
Stop media fear mongering
Digitalize the visa process (automation could decrease risk of prejudice / racism in interviews)
Reduce “ultra security” in application centers.
Written by Benedictus Agbelom
https://i0.wp.com/migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-01-at-6.14.54-PM2.jpeg?fit=958%2C541&ssl=1541958adminhttps://migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MMN_logo.jpgadmin2020-12-01 21:22:242020-12-02 12:02:13Borders of Fear Meetup: Facing Invisible Borders
Warming up to our 21st conference BORDERS OF FEAR: Migration, Security & Control, (27-29 November 2020, Studio 1, Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien), we invite you to join us for an evening with Thomas Kalunge of the Migrant Media Network – an immersion into the journey of a potential migrant to Germany using design thinking.
The Migrant Media Network (#MMN) is a project by the r0g_agency for open culture & critical transformation that provides young Africans with reliable information and training on migration issues and social media to make informed decisions and be aware of safer migration options to Europe. #MMN promotes youth entrepreneurship at home as a way to build economic and social resilience, encouraging youth to create their own opportunities and work within their communities.
Program – starting from 19:00:
Introduction to the conference Borders of Fear: Migration, Security & Control
Introduction to the Migrant Media Network
Immersive journey: facing invisible borders
Drinks and networking
Every year thousands of people from developing countries apply for a visa to western countries, often facing a tedious visa application process: worrying whether they have the right documents, whether a typo might have put their application directly into the reject pile, or just anxiously awaiting a response. At worst, getting a visa successfully is completely mystifying. And what if after doing all the hard work your visa gets denied? The anxiety and fear of rejection are made even worse by locations where the embassy are located especially in developing countries like Ghana and Kenya. The security surrounding the facilities look designed to induce fear. The question then here is who really fears who?
On the contrary, as of July 2020, the German passport was ranked as the 3rd strongest passport in the world: German passport holders can travel to about 189 countries without a visa. The problems of visa application will be therefore new for many German, or European, passport holders.
In this meetup, Thomas C. Kalunge will, after an introduction to the Migrant Media Network project, invite you to immerse yourself via the design thinking process into the experiences of potential migrants. This journey will help you understand the process of applying for visa coming from a developing country, and make the invisible border visible. Are the the strict regulation to access the consulate and the complicated application process strategically designed to induce fear? If so why?
Registration
The meetup is free of admission and the number of seats is limited to 15. Booking is essential. You can reserve a spot here
Speaker
Thomas G. Kalunge (Strategy advisor/Agile Project Management, r0g_agency) is Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship Scientist and practitioner (MSc) as well as a certified design thinking expert. With the User-centered approach, Thomas’s work focuses on Agile project management, Innovation Management, and diaspora involvement in transformative development in host and countries of origin. Currently, Thomas leads the project Migrant Media Network #MMN. This project uses digital online and offline tools to ensure factual information on migration decisions and to provide a discussion forum to defuse the often one-sided picture of migration perpetuated mostly by human smugglers. He also works with r0g_agency on program and strategy development for various projects and programs in Africa
Funded by: Senatsverwaltung für Kultur Und Europa (Senate Department for Culture and Europa, Berlin), Bundeszentrale Für Politische Bildung, the Reva and David Logan Foundation (Grant Provided by Neo Philanthropy), the Guerrilla Foundation, Checkpoint Charlie Foundation. Supported [in Part] by a Grant From the Foundation Open Society Institute in Cooperation with the OSIFE of the Open Society Foundations. Part of Re-Imagine Europe co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
https://i0.wp.com/migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/BoFMeetup128Oct.png?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=110801920adminhttps://migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MMN_logo.jpgadmin2020-10-16 13:36:362020-10-20 08:55:50Borders of Fear Meetup: Facing Invisible Borders
Migrant Media Network 2019 ended with a public presentation of the project, at the Haus der Statistik on December 13th. #MMN trainee and political scientist at the University of Bayreuth, Fortune Agbele, opened the event with a keynote talk. She highlighted the need for policy-makers and politicians to apply multiple and evidence-based sustainable solutions to tackle global migration, going beyond the current one-sided interventions, which are largely focused on building barriers to impede the entry of migrant Africans to Europe.
In this regard, she applauded how the Migrant Media Network is approaching the global migration issue: “The project, which has so far been piloted in Ghana, does not only seek to create an awareness of the dangers that come to taking the irregular route to Europe but also seeks to highlight the opportunities in the home countries. And of particular relevance to the social media boom, it seeks to provide young Africans with reliable information not only on safer options to migrate to Europe but also on the need to scrutinize some of the false images shared on social media about life in Europe.”
After the keynote talk, the initiators of #MMN showcased the different information resources and open technologies that have been co-created with members of the Ghanaian diaspora based in Berlin, during a series of workshops that took place in Berlin at the beginning of the project. These include the raspberry Pi powered HyracBox offline server, a migrant information and entrepreneurship oriented USSD system, along with a comprehensive hard copy and digital #MMN Field Guide for trainers and community leaders.
The event closed with a panel discussion with the returned trainers, in which they reported about their experiences in running social media skills, migration and entrepreneurship workshops in their home communities in Ghana and talked about their personal stories as migrants in Germany. The trainers shared with the audience a surprising impact their workshops had on most participating school boys and girls during their time in Ghana. Whereas at the beginning of the training most participants considered migrating to Europe or the US in the near future -some were already in contact with a travel agent-, the figures reversed after the workshops. Most youth became critical about migrating to Europe irregularly and many considered taking a new path in life as social entrepreneurs in their home towns.
“Participants became much aware of the dangers of irregular migration routes and associated risks on getting documentation in Germany. They also identified alternative economic activities to migrating to Germany such as small-scale farming, fishing, livestock rearing and petty trade, among others, and were interested in how to access the needed funds to start-up in their local communities.” reported trainer Cosmas Combat.
With this valuable insight, Migrant Media Network 2020 will have the potential to enhance these impact by supporting young people in Ghana access the skills, information, mentoring and resources they need in the long term to turn their ideas into businesses, to be job-creators instead of job-seekers, and to empower the younger generations with a ‘making culture’.Posted in Africa, Initiatives, Open Knowledge, Open Technology and tagged #defyhatenow Field Guide, Migration, MMN
https://i0.wp.com/migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/photo6023943807806059088.jpg?fit=1280%2C960&ssl=19601280adminhttps://migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MMN_logo.jpgadmin2019-12-18 22:55:592020-09-22 22:06:54#MMN_Migrant Media Network Public Presentation
Werkstatt – Haus der Statistik Berlin Mitte Karl-Marx-Allee 1 10178 Berlin
engaging diaspora communities in social media awareness e& open tech innovation to foster informed migration choices
introduction by: Fortune Agbele – Political Science Researcher, University of Bayreuth
Please join our team of Berlin and regional based Ghanaian trainers reporting from their experiences in running community based social media skills & migration workshops in their home communities in Ghana. Linking online resources with mobile offline and regional telecommunications systems, including the Raspberry Pi powered HyracBox offline server, a migrant information and entrepreneurship oriented USSD system, #MMN is also developing a comprehensive print anddigital Field Guide for trainers and community leaders.
#MMN – Migrant Media Network is a project by Berlin-based r0g_agency for open culture & critical transformation gGmbH to develop reliable public information and training on social media skills to foster informed and safe choices regarding migration issues. register
https://i0.wp.com/migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Migrant-Poster-1030x515-1.jpg?fit=1030%2C515&ssl=15151030adminhttps://migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MMN_logo.jpgadmin2019-11-19 11:54:012020-09-22 18:49:34#MMN_Migrant Media Network 2019
4-day Workshop on Social Media Sensitization and Migration in Berlin
WHEN: July 17-18 and 22-23, 2019
WHERE: r0g_agency for Open Culture and Critical Transformation, Knobelsdorffstraße 22, 14059 Berlin
CONTACT: Thomas Gitonga Kalunge, thomas@openculture.agency, +491772426390
Aim: Training Ghanaian diaspora in Germany to become trainers on social media sensitization in the areas of regular and irregular migration.
Phase 1 – Participants will learn about engaging responsibly with social media and be equipped with basic training skills on how to organize workshops on social media sensitization in Ghana.
Phase 2 – Four of the trained participants will be supported with materials and guidelines to conduct social media sensitization training workshops in their region of origin in Ghana around the ethical use of social media, irregular vs regular migration and tackling human traffickers’ deceptions.
Why you should participate:
Be part of a pioneer group of Ghanaian trainers
Become a certified trainer on social media sensitization
Help mitigate the lies of human traffickers
Tell your own success stories on migration
Co-create print and offline/online digital materials on topics around migration and social media
Food and beverages will be provided during the workshop.
https://i0.wp.com/migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/workshop-mmn.png?fit=793%2C529&ssl=1529793adminhttps://migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MMN_logo.jpgadmin2019-07-17 22:51:002020-09-22 21:39:10Workshop: Migrant Media Network (Ghana)
Diasporas are viewed as important agents of economic and social development in countries of origin, but governments often lack knowledge or capacity for engaging them effectively at scale. By exploring what roles the governments of the host countries vs the countries of origin play, or should play, we look to establish methodologies that help counter both the pressures of flight and conflict.
https://i0.wp.com/migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/open-fora-1030x1030-1.jpg?fit=1030%2C1030&ssl=110301030adminhttps://migrantmedia.network/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MMN_logo.jpgadmin2019-05-07 18:35:002020-10-20 08:07:46open:fora – Migrant Media Network Café
