IASFM Programme Affairs and Development Strategy 1
IASFM Programme Affairs and Development Strategy[1]
by
Galya Ruffer and Danesh Jayatilaka
Background
Since it was formally established in 1994, the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM)[ had become the most significant forum for academics, activists, and policymakers from around the world to present research and discuss issues related to forced migration. Recognizing the need for a forum representative of the poorer countries that are most directly affected by forced migration issues, the Refugee Studies Programme at the University of Oxford established the multi-disciplinary International Research and Advisory Panel (IRAP) conference in January 1990, which, in 1994 was transformed into the IASFM. An independent international professional association registered as a non-profit organisation in the Netherlands, IASFM has held conferences since 1996 in countries that hosted and/or generated forced migrants such as Kenya, Jerusalem/Palestinian Territories, South Africa, Thailand, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Cyprus, Uganda, and India (for conference list see The conference membership had grown to over 300 people, during this period, representing over 30 countries, and a typical event usually draws between 250 to 450 people. The next conference is to be held in Bogota, Colombia, in the summer 2014 (see
This document provides an overview of IASFM’s strategic direction as a hub for the forced migration community in terms of dissemination of research, knowledge mobilization and networking and outlines the programme targets the IASFM should meet between now and the next conference. It has been prepared by the Executive Committee (EC) Officers responsible for Programme Affairs and Development. They are tasked with liaising between the EC and the Programme Committee (PC) planning the conference, the development of the working groups, and ensuring the interests of researchers in the operation of the association. Programme affairs functions are distributed among the 6 objectives of the IASFM listed below. In the past, some objectives had received greater attention over others, affecting the synergy that could have taken place and the overall potential of the organization. The current exercise intends to improve this condition while scaling up the substantive scope of the association.
The IASFM objectives:
- Information sharing: the IASFM is one of the most important global forums for discussion of new research data and policy developments.
- Network development: contacts developed at IASFM allow individuals and organisations to extend their reach and influence.
3. Collective advocacy: IASFM is particularly strong in its involvement of IDP and refugee community groups and other associations of forced migrants, uniting them with powerful representatives of international NGOs and policy makers.
4. Policy advice: research presented at IASFM is generally policy relevant and representatives of UNHCR and national governments are often present.
5.Capacity building: the opportunity to present and discuss research with leading academics, lawyers and officials from international organisations to improve the quality of research being conducted.
6.Developing research agendas: presentation of research and scrutiny of findings by experts in the field, including forced migrants themselves.
The IASFM Statutes and Rules are available at
The problem
Since its inception the IASFM had generally limited itself to conducting conferences. Existing and new members come together at the 4 day forums, from the world over, and then disperse with little facilities available from within the Association for further collaboration. The opportunity for young scholars and grassroots members to draw on the significant knowledge structures and networks of the entity have also been challenging due to the costs involved and the logistics of accessing the events, though the organization gives out a generous number of travel grants to the south. While the forced migration domain remains vast in its cross sections and layers, only a handful are privileged to participate in the IASFMs, either physically or in some other manner. The exception has been the formulation of Working Groups (see that produce some results (i.e. IDP working group) and Refugee Research Network (RRN see that advances the dissemination of information, both of which are sustainable and reach the grassroots by way of human and electronic mediums. A few pocket meetings have been held at occasions at localized level but these have been mostly arbitrary.
One of the biggest drawbacks of the conference remains that fact it is unable to compile the assorted papers produced by the numerous presenters and make them available for others by way of an open access system such as a website. The Forced Migration Online (FMO) facility at Oxford is known to host some of the papers, but once again, this is a on a random selection and at the onus of the presenter.
The way forward
IASFM has the capacity to be a major presence in the research community in terms of dissemination of research, knowledge mobilization and networking. During the recent conferences held in India, Uganda, and Cyprus a collective decision was made by the EC to encourage programmatic activities for the Association that go beyond the remit of the bi annual conference. Both internal assessments and external demand find IASFM needs to broaden its horizon and revitalize itself. To this end it is understood that a set of structured actions will be conducted to consolidate the existence and accessibility of IASFM during the 18 months space. Chief among these concrete efforts is the promotion of IASFM to a wider and fresh audience along with measures to enhance the production of knowledge and increase connectivity among the members and non-members. Such a development of the Association’s portfolio has the potential to advance the IASFMs visibility, membership, impact, and appeal among old and new donors. By all means, it is a necessary reshaping of the organization to reinvigorate and reposition its place in the Forced Migration horizon that is seeing new issues emerging, institutions forming, and funds declining. Programme Affairs has identified a set of interrelated tools to reach this marker. Each tool engages a segment of the awareness, knowledge, and connectivity needs of the association, and together has the potential to significantly impact IASFMs overall functional status.
Programme affairs activities recommended:
- Establishment of IASFM as a research dissemination hub
- Working groups
- Promotion of broad research collaborations
- Promotion of publications
- Connecting with young scholars network
Each of the measurable tools will have their set of activities, outputs, and outcomes. Some can be made operational at no cost while others may require some funding to ensure maximum effect. While Programme Affairs manages most of the tools, their corresponding activities may require the voluntary support of junior IASFM members. Delegating tasks to able young scholars would indirectly support their capacity building and potential participation in future research. Although earlier group exercises had given mixed results, the PA officers feel that there is now greater feasibility since the core networks (IASFM, RRN) they draw upon are more established, there is a better understanding of what works and what does not, and, therefore, the PA officers are capable of providing the needed support, motivation, guidance and recognition, and if activities are implemented within a strategic framework, members would come forward to voluntarily participate and make contributions. Below is a brief explanation of each of the tools.
Establishment of IASFM as a Research Dissemination Hub
The field of forced migration would benefit from a research dissemination hub where members could access topically organized databases of forced migration literature. New and seasoned scholars need to be able to access comprehensive bibliographies of literature in order to form research topics, develop courses and apply for grants. We propose to inventory already existing databases on topics in the field and request permission to have them linked on an IASFM database hub. We also propose to apply for a National Science Foundation grant to create a Resettlement database and support the efforts of working groups to apply for funds to create databases for their topics.
Working Groups
Three working groups were formulated after the Cyprus conference. These were groups on IDPs, human rights law, and international relations. Only the first group functioned and in time, had a membership of senior academics and practitioners from across the globe exchanging information and collaborating (see The working group produced a number of tangible outputs, one of which was where six thematic panels that were set up which brought together 19 international researchers from 14 reputed institutions who delivered 18 academic papers covering IDP policy, DID governance, return/reintegration, post conflict trafficking, national responsibilities, and transitional justice at the Uganda conference. As the bylaws, criteria for participation, list of members, and operational guidelines are in place it is recommended that the IDP WG along with the HR law and IR groups be reactivated alongside creating three more working groups covering transitional justice, statelessness, and partition. The HR law in particular had members who were interested in participating but the activity was never taken forward. Ideally a new call for proposals should be made for the working groups so they can be formulated, while the active ones can be further strengthened. Previous experience had indicated sustaining working groups has been a challenge and groups had at most cases produced the above type panels or organized one-off workshops at the conference, with limited sustainability. Due to this, the envisaged exercise to reinitiate and galvanize the 6 groups will be conducted in a highly structured way with the IASFM investing both human and financial commitments than before and the ExCom fully supporting the endeavour for the long term.
Another tangible output of the WG was the creation of two local chapters of the IASFM by members of the groups in India and Sri Lanka. A number of meetings were held, but the sub groups were unable to conduct any real activities due to lack of funds. It is recommended that chapters of similar nature be opened through the WGs in every region at global level so they act as localized mediums for scholarly exchange and information dissemination on forced migration. The horizontal and vertical configuration would, without a doubt, extend the reach of IASFM paving the way for powerful connectivity at a previously untried level. The definition of the local engagement should be left in the hands of the WG local coordinators, the form and shape of the activity dependent on their contexts, requirements, and capabilities, with individuals who come forward to take on the task, so that the process is ground up. All members who do these would be encouraged to form joint panels at the conference through respective working groups while IASFM ensures these scholars from the South are supported. All information in relation to the WGs would be uploaded and made visible in the IASFM website. The programme affairs officers will advertise through the IASFM network for expressions of interest for people interested in serving as WG local coordinators. The CARFMS [ especially, is a successful example, even if in the north, of this dynamic approach due to, where modelled on the IASFM, it conducts annual conferences within Canada and supports online research through innovative tools. The Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS)[ at York has been supporting this initiative and there are other universities in Canada that are able to support similar exemplary ventures taken up by committed forced migration scholars and practitioners.
Promotion of Broad Research Collaborations
In order to promote collaboration and expand the reach of IASFM, the programme affairs officers will encourage the formation of workshops configured by members of the working groups to advance knowledge construction and connectivity in the field of forced migration. Workshops are meant to encourage information exchange, creativity, collaboration, initiate some projects activities, disseminate research and provide visibility for IASFM in between the bi-annual conferences. One workshop has already been planned (pending funding from the National Science Foundation) for May 2014 at Northwestern University (http://www.bcics.northwestern.edu/), “Refugee Protection Outside of the International Legal Framework: Expanding Cross-National and Cross-Disciplinary Collaborations.”
As set by the example of the Northwestern University workshop, groups are encouraged to apply for external funding. The Programme affairs officers will be able to offer some suggestions as to funders and examples of successful applications. It is envisioned that funded workshops may apply for supplemental funds from IASFM to support international travel costs. Proposals that merit funding can be supported in two ways: first through a standing allocation of USD 10,000 in the IASFM treasury where grants between USD 1000 and USD 2000 are permitted. Seed money may also be made available for micro study or an information portal but once again the onus and creation in the hands of the applicants. In fact this model has proven to be successful with the RRN as research clusters have received modest funding which they used to secure greater funding to bring together scholars and hold workshops. For workshops that have tried, but have been unable to locate suitable funds, applicants may seek the assistance of IASFM which can recommend and forward the application to its formidable donor network. Programme affairs together with fund raising officers in the association would follow up on these efforts to secure funding for the projects. The application range here would be USD 10,000 to USD 20,000 for projects with a cap of six months and IASFM would ensure support for five such projects. It is envisaged that local WG officials who lead these activities would be able to raise follow-up funding for continuity of the activities. All information in relation to the projects, personal and funding involved including results would be made available in the IASFM website. Naturally IASFM has limited financial resources and would need to pool together available monies with outside support for the exercise, whereas PA officers would liaise with funders and meet their requirements, so as to facilitate funds for the micro activities. The occurrence of micro regional workshops is unlikely to fragment the focus of the IASFM and PA officers would ensure that there is balance between the interim activities and bi annual conferences.
Promotion of Publications
One of the best ways to promote publications is to encourage presenters to organize panels and then promote the papers through IASFM such as the case in Cyprus where a special compilation edition was produced on Refugee Survey Quarterly [ on Global Governance. Presently a commitment has already been made by Refugee Watch [ to dedicate a full edition for papers from the upcoming conference. In addition to these possibilities we recommend that the IASFM work in conjunction with the RRN to promote research collaborations between refugee/forced migration studies centres in broad areas where individual capacity is limited given resources and knowledge, yet there is a serious need for a comprehensive approach if change is to take place. Some of the topics that were identified by the Refugee Research Network include: Comparative studies of RSD Processes, resettlement and long-term integration, conflict and refugee crisis in comparative perspective, online research and teaching tools (ex., CARFMS/ORTT and the RefugeeLegalAidInformation.org), access to asylum, life processes in repatriated refugees. With reference to the hundreds of papers presented at the IASFM conference, and the selected numbers that cannot go into paper publications, Programme Affairs would liaise with the local Programme Committee to delegate focal points for compiling the other papers, which in turn can be uploaded to RRN[[ ORTT ( FMO ( etc. through a formal arrangement. To strengthen this process, a sub group would be formed to facilitate publications by researchers. The RRN, especially, with its website presently being enhanced, is suitable for this publication function due to its capacity, visibility and close links with the IASFM, making it highly opportune to strengthen the partnership further.
Connecting With Young Scholars Networks
We recommend collaborating more closely with the young scholars network by promoting mentoring of young scholars through the working groups, exchanges between institutions, and inclusion of funding and outreach to young scholars in workshop proposals and broad research collaborations. The connections with these upcoming scholars’ means, IASFM would be ‘coaching’ these individuals and supporting them to draw out their potentials/confidence. The ‘New Scholars Network’ (see particularly, with its own website, organizational structure, and members would welcome a mentoring intervention. Such that scholars from IASFM could offer to mentor young and enterprising researchers associated with the NSN and encourage others to also make use of the services. In this exercise, rather than recreating another young researcher network, IASFM would support an existing structure offering mentoring opportunities using its rich pool of globally renowned scholars.