Storytelling on migration and the European Year of Development 2015

The European Year of Development 2015 website has devoted the month of September to migration and demography. MADE has participated by contributing a weekly story, each time highlighting key aspects of migration and development. The stories were combined with the powerful images that were selected as finalists and winner to the May 2015 photo competition 'Untold Stories: how migrants contribute to human and economic development'. 

During the first week of September, MADE featured the winning photo of the competition, submitted by Lisa Burnell, in a blog post titled: 'I am Sisterhood - turning your life around thanks to migration'. The blog post describes some of the specific difficulties for women in the context of migration and tells the story of Eunice, founder of Sisters4Sisters, a South-African non-profit, community-based organisation for African women. 

The second topic covered by this series was the rise of skilled migration in the healthcare sector. By sharing the story of Jerry, a nurse from the Philippines who had emigrated to the United States, readers were informed about the latest figures around the world for this phenomenon. Read all about Jerry's story in the blog post titled 'Caring and healing across borders: migration in the healthcare sector'. 

Forced migration and displacement of population has been high on the European political agenda throughout the month of September, with several high-level meetings discussing how to deal with the so-called refugee crisis. MADE is part of the growing civil society movement all over Europe that aims to engage with policymakers to seek better and lasting solutions to the plight of Syrians and other displaced populations. The post titled 'Forced to move on: rebuilding a life after conflict' , featuring the photo 'Praying for Hope' by Willemjan Vandenplas, was published during mid-September 2015.

Lastly, and to honour the adoption of the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development during the recent UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York on 25-27 September 2015, MADE published a post titled 'Remittances and the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development', focusing on the potential of remittances to produce long-lasting, positive social change for families and communities worldwide, but focuses especially on the case of South-East Asia. The photo chosen to illustrate this post was submitted by Sudipto Das and is titled 'Homebound'. 

The MADE Europe Chapter will continue to take part in activities related to the European Year of Development until its closure in December 2015. Find out more about upcoming activities, events, and ways to get involved on the EYD website.