Seefar’s behaviour change campaign in Mali has resulted in more than half of consultees making safer and more informed migration decisions, according to evaluation data. 

The campaign ran from February to December 2020, and was aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of irregular migration amongst potential migrants to protect them from harm and exploitation. It was run as part of The Migrant Project, Seefar’s global flagship migration communications campaign aimed at raising awareness of the risks of irregular migration and empowering migrants to make safer decisions. 

The campaign successfully utilised educational outreach to spread key campaign messages, reaching 15,000 students across Bamako at a critical time when many students may be considering irregular migration after graduation. Data from the campaign shows that training teachers was highly effective in increasing knowledge of the risks of irregular migration, with the majority (94%) of teachers reporting high levels of knowledge increase after the training. Teachers also played a key role in youth decision-making, with only 10% of students considering irregular migration after hearing information from The Migrant Project. 

Online and media engagement was also highly effective in disseminating key information on the risks of irregular migration, with 72% of consultees in northern Mali listening to our radio broadcasts and over one million post engagements on the campaign’s Facebook page – 223% over the initial campaign target. 

The campaign proved to be highly influential in supporting potential migrants to make safer and more informed migration decisions. Over half (59%) of migrants said they had abandoned their irregular migration plans after receiving information from The Migrant Project, and a large majority (71%) reported that they were considering safe legal migration options. Consultations were also highly effective in increasing knowledge of the risks of irregular migration, with 100% of consultees reporting moderate to high levels of awareness increase shortly after a consultation. Data shows that beneficiaries shared information on safe migration with an average of seven other people thereby increasing the reach and impact of campaign messaging to actively protect others from unsafe migration. 

The campaign showed that educational outreach was highly effective in impacting students’ knowledge and behaviours, and this component will be scaled up in 2021 to reach students in Gao, Kayes and Sikasso in Mali.