The Conference, which brought together a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives from the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission, from National Contact Points of the European Migration Network (EMN), from international organisations such as IOM and ICMPD, as well as from various universities, showed how important and challenging effective information provision on migration is.

Among others, the following challenges were particularly highlighted:

• Trust: many speakers underlined that disinformation, fake news and manipulation are widespread, inter alia fueled by traffickers, and they are sometimes hard to counter. Potential migrants seem to rely on friends, neighbours or people already abroad and do not easily trust official sources. 
   
• Accessibility: some terms (such as "entry ban" or "rejection" of an application) are difficult to understand for potential migrants, especially as they might be translated in many different ways in a local language. Information also tends to be dispersed, hence the importance of "one-stop-shops" for information.
   
• Digitalisation: the rapidly changing media landscape, and the growing use of social media platforms, play a crucial role in shaping and influencing opinions, as well as fostering connections. Potential migrants are subject to an overabundance of information, including misinformation.
   
• Impact: while the evidence base has grown and improved, the impact of information campaigns is hard to measure, especially when it comes to assessing potential migrants' behaviour. The evaluations show very mixed results and the debate remains very much ideological and polarised. 

However new approaches and campaigns are developed and implemented by various actors, for example:

• IOM Georgia presented the Migrant Resource Centres where potential migrants, migrants abroad as well as returning migrants in Georgia receive safe migration counselling, information on regular migration pathways as well as return and reintegration counselling. IOM Georgia also showed the MigApp which is the IOMs downloadable app that serves as a one-stop-shop where migrants can access current, reliable, and practical information throughout their migration process. MigApp ensures that migrants have access to local information and services.
   
• EMN Cyprus presented a campaign based on "TalkTruthAboutCyprus", including inter alia key facts about Cyprus, figures relating to decisions on asylum applications, examples of messages that smugglers use to trap people and true stories. The campaign was designed and implemented by Cyprus Press and Information Office, in cooperation with a private advertising agency. The above-mentioned website received a high number of visits during the three-month campaign, from users in Nigeria, Tunisia, Cameroon, Egypt and France.
   
• Seefar presented innovative tools to develop and implement personalised communications and massive campaigns. The Seefar Academy, which is an e-learning platform offering courses on migration topics, was mentioned, including a course on improving students' understanding of the risks of irregular migration. Cooperation with online influencers was also mentioned as a channel for information provision. 

At the end of the Conference, the following conclusions were drawn:

• Migrants must be at the heart of the campaigns, and individual counselling services are essential.
• Campaigns must include innovative and creative tools but they must remain simple and flexible.
• The collection of data and sharing of practices must be extended, in particular for evaluation purposes.

For further information about this Conference, please contact:
EMN GE: scmi-secretariat@sda.gov.ge
EMN CY: cy.emn.ncp@moi.gov.cy