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**@sylum and ICT** Assessment, Opportunities and Risks CALL FOR RESEARCHERS The Singa Project aims to carry out an international study into the use of information and communication technologies by refugee support organisations and the refugees with whom they work in a number of countries across the world. The study aims primarily to answer the following question: how can we best use new and existing information and communication technologies to assist refugees in their new lives? It will focus on identifying the benefits and potential risks of using such forms of technology, both for refugee support organisations and the refugees with whom they work. By collating research from a number of countries (both first countries of asylum where local integration is encouraged as a durable solution and third countries of asylum where resettlement occurs), we hope that the study will encourage the sharing of best practices around the use of such technologies, and help create a network of individuals interested in and conscious of the role that information and communication technologies can play in assisting refugees to build new lives in the countries in which they settle. We have so far identified researchers working in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Morocco, Norway and the United States and would like especially to hear from researchers based in countries other than these. Editorial Direction, predicted work schedule and financing Guillaume Capelle and Nathanael Molle (co-founders of the Singa Project) will be responsible for the editorial direction of the study. We will support researchers to find existing literature on the topic and to create interview questions. The study will be coordinated largely through use of the Singa Project's online social network, to which each researcher will be able to join up in order to meet all the other researchers, exchange ideas and information about the research being conducted, share literature, discuss methodology, etc. Each researcher will also be provided with their own Singa Project email address to be easily identifiable both to each other and professionals contacted as part of the study. Though researchers are free to organise the time spent on the study as they please, our aim is for the research to be completed within a 9 months schedule, as set out below: March - April 2013 - Identification of actors (refugee support organisations, refugees) and their use of information and communication technologies. Compilation of existing relevant literature. May- July 2013 - Conducting of interviews with relevant actors. August- October 2013 - Completion of c.10 page paper based on research carried out (for each country). We will provide guidance on the layout and required referencing. November 2013 - Completion of final collated document and online publication. As the Singa Project is a young organisation and not yet financially sustainable, we are currently unable to pay participants for their research and are therefore looking for individuals willing to be involved on a voluntary basis. If the study proves successful, we will work to organise and finance an international conference to which all researchers would be invited to come and share their ideas and experiences. We will also look into the possibility of publishing the study in print. About the SINGA PROJECT The Singa Project is a non-profit organization founded in France on the 11th of February 2012. SINGA's main objective is to improve the stay of refugees in host countries and to highlight the positive impact of this stay on the host countries themselves. We focus on the economic socio-integration of refugees and work to deconstruct misconceptions on the question of exile. SINGA wishes to encourage formal and informal interactions between refugees and the populations of host countries. Encouraging students to give language classes to refugees and looking into how to promote and finance the projects of refugee entrepreneurs are amongst the actions currently implemented by the organization. Through helping refugee entrepreneurs to successfully launch their own projects, we hope to empower refugee populations and highlight to host societies the extraordinary benefits that these populations can bring. We strongly believe that information and communication technology can be a catalyst for positive changes in the lives of refugees. http://singaproject.wordpress.com/ If interested, please contact Liz Jackson at the following address: [log in to unmask] Please attach a CV. Thank you. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Note: The material contained in this communication comes to you from the Forced Migration Discussion List which is moderated by Forced Migration Online, Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the RSC or the University. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this message please retain this disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. 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