The political and media focus on the refugee crisis in Europe has demonstrated how mobile technology has proved to be a lifeline for refugees to navigate their journeys and resettle in new European countries. However, the fact remains that all of the world’s top ten refugee hosting countries are outside of Europe. MNOs and humanitarian agencies have been delivering mobile connectivity and creating innovative services for refugees in a variety of rural and urban contexts in Africa, Asia and the Middle East for many years. There are wide-ranging lessons that can be shared across sectors and regions on the challenges and opportunities of providing mobile connectivity and services to this segment of the population which will be explored in this report.
Current research and activities on refugees use of mobile technology focus largely on the following themes:
This report provides a summary of each of these themes.
