On 17 November, ICMPD organised a workshop for Moldovan stakeholders as part of the project “Capacity for a Rights-Based Reception System for Moldova” (CareFor) to exchange experience on communicating on migration, including in times of crisis. The workshop gathered communication specialists from the project beneficiaries and partners, ICMPD experts and the project team.
With migration being a multifaceted and sensitive area, communication on migration requires specific skills, knowledge, and approaches. The humanitarian crisis caused by the war in neighbouring Ukraine amplified the discussion on migration in the Moldovan public space and the need for more careful and sensitive reporting. The objective of the workshop was to share the communication experience at the Bureau for Migration and Asylum (BMA) which came recently to the centre of media scrutiny as a frontline response agency. During these challenging times, BMA benefitted from CareFor assistance through an embedded expert on communication who has been helping the agency carry out effectively its external communication and establish a dedicated in-house communication function for the future. The expert has largely been drawing upon the Handbook on Reporting Migration, developed within the framework of the MOMENTA 2 (Migration Media Training Academy) project, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented by ICMPD in 2020.
The workshop also aimed to capture the experience and lessons learned of other relevant actors within internal affairs and beyond, including the Ombudsman Office, the Law Centre of Advocates, and the National Congress of Ukrainians in Moldova. Discussions triggered topics such as interaction with journalists, presence on social networks, tailoring and targeting, reporting ethics, internal communication, and institutional identity. The latter was especially relevant given the upcoming reorganization of the Bureau for Migration and Asylum. In this regard, the CareFor expert on communication presented ideas for a series of in-house organizational assets such as visibility items, communication templates procedures, and adapted standards to be part of the new institutional identity.
The project “Capacity for a Rights-Based Reception System for Moldova” (CareFor), funded by the Polish Ministry of the Interior and Administration, aims to contribute to a functioning and human-rights compliant migration management system in Moldova while addressing some of the more immediate needs caused by the unprecedented inflow of displaced people from Ukraine.