Redesigning Migration Information Centres to promote safe Migration
2019–2021, Youth Participation, The Gambia
The Migration Information Centres (MICs) are one-stop shops based in local youth centres, run by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in cooperation with the Gambian National Youth Council. The aim of the MICs is to provide young people with low-threshold and barrier-free access to information on safe migration. The centres are located in regions with high levels of youth migration, including Basse, Brikama and Soma in The Gambia, and Benin City in Nigeria.
As a design consultant on behalf of the IOM in The Gambia, I investigated how young people’s participation in shaping the MICs’ cultural programme could be strengthened, and to what extent these participatory measures contribute to informed decisions on migration.
Together with local youth groups, I ran participatory workshops at two youth centres; one in Soma and one in Basse Santa Su. These included co-creative formats and design interventions like the ‘Youth Take Over’ aimed at fostering self-efficacy whilst promoting a sense of personal responsibility. The joint development and testing of ideas with young Gambians made it possible to highlight the interlinked social, spatial and institutional processes and to devise strategic scenarios for sustainably redesigning the spaces of the MIC. The ‘research-through-design’ approach enabled a multi-perspective analysis of the challenges arising from the tension between European migration policy and local realities. The jointly developed scenarios subsequently led to a reorganisation of the youth centres’ programmes, specifically tailored to the needs of local youth. Furthermore, the architectural, programmatic, and socio-spatial redesign – incorporating local expertise and materials – contributed to the long-term continuity of youth activities.
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