Introducing Yenna, IOM’s learning platform on community engagement
Social theater is one of the participative approaches featured on Yenna. In this picture, Senegalese women enjoy a local outdoors performance organised by IOM. Author: Migrants as Messenger / Copyright: IOM
To ensure safe migration pathways, young people across the global should be empowered to make well-informed decisions with the assistance of their support networks. This is where communities play a critical role. Community leaders, local authorities, youth along with their support networks of parents, teachers and peers have a vital role in promoting safe migration, addressing the root causes of irregular migration, fostering social cohesion and supporting sustainable reintegration.
To promote effective community engagement in communities with high mobility, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has developed Yenna, a learning platform for practitioners and key stakeholders.
Yenna is designed to equip users with the necessary tools and skills to implement community-based awareness-raising initiatives, including co-design, peer-to-peer communication, and community dialogue. The objective is to promote safe migration pathways and local alternatives among young people and their support networks in communities with high mobility, or to encourage social cohesion in communities of transit. These interventions should ideally be implemented in tandem with migrant reintegration and protection activities from a socio-ecological perspective.
Yenna, soon to be available in the forthcoming Migrant Protection Platform, is accessible in English and French, and primarily targets institutions, organizations and individuals with influence in their communities, such as religious and traditional leaders, local authorities, civil society members, NGOs, youth-based organisations and returnees. The platform is structured around four sections:
- DISCOVER: includes introductory articles on good practices from community engagement and awareness raising on safe migration.
- LEARNING: offers tailored e-learning modules, toolkits and capacity-building activities to work on these skills.
- LISTEN: a selection of inspiring audio stories from people around the world who help understand the migration experience.
- DOWNLOAD: contains a selection of free studies, publications, and printed files.
Among the trainings provided on the Yenna website:
- Communication for development: C4D is a people-centred process, in which communication tools and activities are used to support social and behavioural change in a sustainable way.
- Mental health and migration awareness: The course explains how migration affects mental health and how it is possible to support migrants and vulnerable people during awareness-raising activities.
- The Journalist's Toolkit: A set of creative and engaging educational tools to help journalists tell stories of migration in a balanced and ethical way.
- Risk Communication and Community Engagement (CREC): The course introduces CREC principles, best practices, rumor management, and steps in developing a CREC plan.
Pay Yenna a visit, make the most of it and spread the word !
Yenna is made possible with the support of the Dutch-funded COMPASS, a global initiative which contributes to ensuring that migrants of all gender and diversity groups have access to protection sensitive pathways and are empowered to contribute to sustainable development outcomes in their communities.
For more information please contact Luca Putteman at lputteman@iom.int or compass@iom.int