The WDCD Refugee Challenge actually consists of five challenges! Each of the five briefs addresses a specific issue refugees encounter during the reception and acceptance procedure in the country where they have landed. The third brief asks What Design Can Do to bring refugees and host communities closer to one another.
Since few people in host communities actually know refugees, most opinions of refugees are shaped by the media, rather than through first-hand contact or personal stories. This has resulted in a polarized debate in which emotion runs high.
The repercussions for the integration of refugees in European society are huge. A limited or distorted understanding, by Europeans and refugees alike, of the values important in each other’s cultures can form barriers to acceptance and integration. So how can we create better connections between cultures?
Much to gain
Cultures can be connected in many ways. From creating activities or spaces where people can meet, to devising communication campaigns and experiences that build empathy, designers can find ways to reveal prejudices and stigmas, and address these on rational as well as emotional levels. If successful interaction can be established, there is much to be gained. Local communities can discover value in the diversity brought by refugees, while refugee communities can establish social ties that are crucial to their integration.
Best practices
An example of what kind of ideas could be submitted is ‘De Voorkamer’ (The Living Room), a social design initiative that focusses on the creation of a new environment for asylum seekers and locals to meet (see top image).
Read the full story elsewhere on this blog.
Another welknown project in this context is Flüchtlinge Willkommen, a website that provides refugees with shared housing. Since its establishment in Germany nine countries followed suit and 531 refugees were matched to shared flats.
Read the full story in our separate post.
Or take the example of a Syrian refugee crowned Prince Ali I during Carnival in the Netherlands, as can be read in our separate story.
Got a big idea yourself? Download the full WDCD Refugee Challenge brief including background information and research material from refugeechallenge.unhcrideas.org and join the challenge.