Home Program listing Migration and...

Migration and Development 2011-2014

Making Connections: Migration and Development in Asia

 

Program Overview

The world is facing unprecedented levels of mobility and migration, and this increasing flow of workers from rural to urban areas, and across borders from the Global South to the Global North (and in many cases back to their place of origin), has deep and profound impacts on development.  Once treated as separate issues, the intersections between migration and development are being increasingly recognized on the global stage.  

The focus is increasingly on how best to support global migration flows, in both migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries, in a way that protects the rights of migrants and their families, and recognizes migrants as key agents for development.  

CAPI is increasingly turning our attention to migration in much of our collective research and activities, and have a solid network of individuals, partner organizations and intern alumni to draw from in this work.  CAPI has been one of the only organizations in Canada offering internship placements centered on migration over the past several years, and for each of the past four years, CAPI interns, through their placements with one of our key regional partners, Migrant Forum in Asia, have attended the Global Forum on Migration and Development and parallel meetings: in Brussels in 2007, Manila in 2008, Athens in 2009 and Mexico City in 2010.  For all of these reasons, we have decided to concentrate our 2011 to 2014 Students for Development project on migration.  

CAPI has received funding for a three year project that we will coordinate, in partnership with leading organizations and research institutes in the Philippines, Bangladesh and India, principal migrant-sending countries in Asia. Our key partners are: 

Each of these organizations (except PRIA) are actively linked through an existing network - mainly coordinated through Migrant Forum in Asia as the regional networking hub - and engage with each other through shared project work, and at national, regional and international level, on an ongoing basis.  

While migration is the overarching theme for our project, with the active agreement and support of our Southern partners, we have decided to take a closer look at a specific aspect of migration and development in each year of our project:

  • in 2012, there will be a thematic focus on Migration as Economic Development Strategy
  • in 2013, activities and research in the project will look more closely at Migration's Impacts on Children and Youth
  • in 2014, activities and research will take Migration and Food Security as a key thematic focus

At the urging of our partners, each intern and student involved in the project will be expected to engage in a small action research project on the theme for the year they are involved in the project.  Our lecture series and virtual conference each year will also be themed around these three different aspects of migration and development.  All of the outputs from the project will be posted on, and available through, our web portal.

Our project includes three main components:

Component One: Over the three years of our project, from January 2012 to December 2014, 28 UVic students will travel to work as interns in Migrant Forum in Asia (two in 2012 and three per year in 2013 and 2014), the Center for Migrant Advocacy (two per year), WARBE Development Foundation (two per year), RMMRU (two per year for 2013 and 2014) and PRIA (two per year for 2013 and 2014).  The first group of interns will depart at the beginning of January each year and stay for six months, with a second set of interns departing in early June, ideally allowing for a few weeks of overlap between the two. This will result in a continuous flow of interns to our host organizations, and greater synergy and collaboration in all aspects of the project.  In their placements, all of our interns will engage in action research, will participate in host organization activities, and will contribute regular podcasts and blogs to the project website.  In Canada, interns will be involved (pre and post placement) in the projects' ongoing activities, alongside visiting graduate students, and will contribute to, and participate in, the project's interactive web portal.

Component Two:  In the Fall terms of 2012, 2013, and 2014, CAPI and the University of Victoria will host one or two graduate students per year from our partner universities in the Philippines and Bangladesh, for a total of 5 through the life of the project.  These students will be drawn from research institutes with faculty expertise and an expressed focus on migration, including the College of Social Work and Community Development at the University of the Philippines, the Women and Gender Institute at Miriam College, the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit at the University of Dhaka and East West University in Dhaka.  Each of these organizations has strong linkages with the three civil society organizations that are hosting our Canadian interns, and there will be much opportunity for collaboration among faculty, Canadian interns and graduate students.  Each graduate student will engage in coursework, library and community-based research, regular discussion forums and will contribute podcasts and blogs to the project's online communication portal.

Component Three: One of the key objectives of our project is to strengthen collaboration and increase knowledge around various aspects of migration and development in Asia among key civil society stakeholders in the Philippines and Bangladesh, as well as among the interns, students and faculty members engaged in the project, and the Canadian public.  For this reason, our work over the three years will be grounded in, and actively facilitated by, an interactive web portal that will be built for the project.  Interns, students, faculty members and NGO leaders in Canada and Asia will participate in, and contribute to, this online information and collaboration platform on a regular basis.  This portal will host video and audio podcasts and blogs, as well as papers and publications developed by students, interns and faculty members.  As well, each year a series of lectures will be held in the Fall term, and one multi-sited virtual conference will take place.  These lectures and conferences will be supported through video conferencing facilities, and will be made available through the web portal. 

To apply to the program visit the Internship Opportunities page.