IOM's Awareness Raising Unit (AWR) uses innovative, evidence-based approaches to engage young people and their communities about migration. Located in Dakar, the Awareness Raising Unit supports the design, implementation and monitoring of a diverse portfolio of projects.

Learn, Act, Share

IOM's awareness raising approach puts the audience at the center, using a participative design process, across three main areas:

Learn, act, share

IOM's Awareness Raising in West and Central Africa

 

Putting the Audience at the Centre

Awareness Raising is not a unidirectional action, but rather it is a multidirectional process, in which the target audience is at the centre of the process, integral across all steps. The Awareness Raising Unit works alongside partners and audiences to understand their needs and concerns. Rather than tell people what they should or shouldn't do, IOM's awareness raising activities help communities access the information and tools they need to make decisions about their own lives.

 

Three people looking at a phone IOM Team Migrants as MessengerGroup of people in front of the mural they painted

 

Evidence based design

 

Multi-skilled Experts, All in One Place

Multi-skilled experts

The Awareness Raising Unit comprises a dozen technical experts, across a range of skill sets. This includes Communication for Development (C4D), Behaviour Change Communication (BCC), video production, social media strategy, radio and facilitation, photography and research. The Awareness Raising Unit ensures a gender lens is applied to all work, with a dedicated gender focal point and working group. Environmentally friendly practices, such as producing materials with locally recycled items and dissuading single-use plastic, are also applied.

For further information, please contact Mia Barrett, Head of Awareness Raising, IOM Regional Office for West and Central Africa, at awrdakar@iom.int.
 

Initiatives