Forced Migration Fora: Asking Questions, Getting Answers

A variety of fora for posting questions and answers to a community of experts and practitioners are available in the forced migration field.

Aidworkers Forum [site]
- Made available through the revamped Aidworkers Network site. It's a place where humanitarian aid workers can post requests for advice and guidance on a range of issues. The forum is quite active and questions appear to have a high response rate. The forum is public but visitors must register in order to post questions or comments.

Forced Migration Discussion List [site]
- While not a new list (it's been around since the late 1990s), it just passed the 1000-member mark and continues to attract researchers and practitioners from a range of disciplines. The list archives are public, but visitors must subscribe to circulate messages. Managed by the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC).

Medact Refugee Health Network [site]
- A Yahoo group for health professionals working with refugees whose aim is "to share information and best practice amongst those working to facilitate improving the health of refugees." You must join in order to view the archives.

Refuge and Rejection Forum [site]
- Part of a newly launched site to promote the humanities in forced migration studies. As such, not much activity yet but there is an essay on "what the humanities have to contribute to the study of refugees" and "why humanists are poorly represented in the field of 'refugee studies'" which new members can comment on.

Refugee Education [site]
- Another Yahoo group set up to "support teachers and other professionals who work with refugee and asylum-seeking children, young people and families." Appears to be quite active, with 980 members. You must join in order to view the archives.

Refugee Studies [site]
- This was established for current and former students of UEL's refugee studies program. Sections include a general discussion area, research resources, employment/study opportunities, and conferences/events, among others. Currently, this forum appears to be used more for information-sharing than Q&A.

BTW, I posted a list of resources on the Aidworkers Forum in response to a request for information on how best to assist war-affected children in Uganda. If you are interested, you can read the request and response here.

Posted in Web Sites/Tools.