Document details

The Digital Worlds of Displacement-Affected Communities: A Cross-Context Study of How People Affected by Displacement Use Mobile Phones

GSMA;UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) (2022), 76 pp.

Contains illustrations, 11 figures, 8 boxes

"Through in-depth qualitative research and a survey to confirm and quantify findings, this study aims to provide a more holistic understanding of how displacement-affected communities in three humanitarian settings are using their mobile phones. These settings were chosen to provide a variety of perspectives on the research questions: North and Akkar governorates in Lebanon, which host tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and are the most economically underdeveloped regions in the country; Iowara refugee settlement in Western Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG), which hosts between 2,500 and 3,000 refugees from West Papua, Indonesia (Iowara is an extremely remote settlement that is hard to reach from the nearest town of Kiunga and has a host population of only about 200 people); Bor Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in South Sudan, which hosts about 2,687 internally displaced Nuer people and is located 7 kilometres from the urban centre of Bor Town. Deep qualitative engagement and surveys with refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs) and host communities revealed complex digital worlds in which people use their mobile phones to navigate and cope with difficult daily realities. Connecting with friends and family, staying up to date on news and information from home or relaxing with music are all ways for people to respond to the challenges they face. However, these complex uses also present risks for mobile phone users. The research highlights the impacts of low digital literacy, online scams, misinformation, disinformation and hate speech (MDH), and how humanitarians, mobile network operators (MNOs) and other digital and financial service providers can help protect people from those risks." (Executive summary)
1 Introduction, 8
2 Methodology, 14
3 Northern Lebanon, 17
4 Iowara, Papua New Guinea, 28
5 Bor, South Sudan, 37
6 Financial well-being, 47
7 Digital leisure, 55
8 Misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, 64
Conclusion and recommendations, 73