Peter Chonka and Yidnekachew Haile
This review examines how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) affect intentions and behaviours relating to mobility within the Horn of Africa (HoA). A recent review of literature conducted by the Research and Evidence Facility (REF) – a project of the European Union Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF) for Africa (HoA Window) – has highlighted a growing body of research examining the role of social media in driving HoA migration, and its use by migrants on their journeys (REF, 2020, p 27). However, there has been much less exploration of the broader role of ICTs in changing patterns of mobility, whether by promoting the growth of social networks that facilitate movement, distributing information that renders movement less necessary, or sharing the benefits of movement more widely. This rapid review draws on the general literature on the role of ICTs in migration and livelihoods to assess the extent to which these (global) research findings apply to different settings within in the HoA. The HoA region is defined here as encompassing Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Somalia/Somaliland,1 Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. We review the available literature from the region that examines people’s access to and use of ICTs, and the impacts that ICTs have on various aspects of life in general and mobility in particular. This includes discussion of which ICTs are being used and by whom. ICTs here encompass basic, feature and smart mobile phones, computers, internet access, online services such as email, and multiple social media platforms.
The relationship between ICTs and human mobility is multifaceted and complex. ICT use can affect why, how and the scale on which people move. The movement of people can itself influence patterns of ICT uptake among those who are mobile, those to whom they are connected and those left behind. Different types of mobility may be affected by ICTs and distinctions are often made between internal migration within nation-states and international migration across borders. There are differences between long-term international migration and seasonal, local or regional labour migration, as well as between the forced mobility of refugees or internally displaced people (IDPs) and ‘everyday’ patterns of mobility around and beyond communities and workplaces. In a world characterised by socioeconomic inequality and cultural variation there are also differences between movements from the ‘Global South’ to the ‘Global North’ (and vice versa), and mobility within these zones. As such, labels of ‘types’ of migrant – such as those distinguishing ‘refugees’ and ‘economic’ migrants – are often problematic and may “fail to capture adequately the complex relationship between political, social and economic drivers of migration” (Crawley & Skleparis, 2018, p 48).
Similarly, for HoA contexts characterised by long-term, conflict-influenced population movement, distinguishing ‘refugees’ and ‘IDPs’ from ‘economic migrants’ and ‘urban poor’ is problematic and over-simplifies the complex set of reasons why people move and settle in new places (REF, 2018).
Sensitive to these complexities and problems of categorisation, this review synthesises a wide range of research from different HoA countries (and beyond) within the following thematic structure.
Section 2 of the review provides background context on ICT infrastructure, access and use in the HoA. Section 3 examines the relevant literature on the ways in which ICT use affects how people conceive of and undertake long-term migration. This section focuses primarily (but not exclusively) on international migration and highlights multiple functions of ICTs for migrants, as well a range of risks that are associated with ICT-mediated connectivity. Section 4 reviews the literature on the impacts of ICTs on ‘everyday’ mobilities. This section looks at the wider socioeconomic changes brought by ICT connectivity to people’s livelihoods and social networks, and the ways in which these affect different people’s mobility – often unequally. Research on the ICT use of specific population groups in the HoA – pastoralists and displaced people – is examined here. Experiments, potentials and problematics of data collection on mobility via ICTs/digital platforms are explored in section 5, while section 6 surveys relevant humanitarian programming on the ICT use of mobile populations in the HoA and beyond.
Key findings of the review are provided in the conclusion and are summarised here:
- Digital inequalities in the HoA are prevalent and multifaceted. They relate to geographical location, gender, social class and other factors. Many of the most vulnerable (mobile) populations in the region have only basic mobile phone access (if that) and no access to the internet. Cheap smartphone access is increasing, however, and in some cases refugee populations may have higher levels of access to these devices than national averages.
- Basic phone access and use is often integral to mobile livelihoods and to processes of migration and displacement. In some contexts, mobile money is vital for displaced populations and plays a critical role in the everyday livelihoods in the wider societies in which migrants settle.
- There is limited conclusive evidence to show that increased access to ICTs ‘causes’ increased internal or international migration. Migration is driven by multiple interrelated factors, and causation may work both ways, as mobility itself can accelerate the diffusion and use of technology to wider communities.
- ICTs may both encourage and discourage mobility. People’s needs to physically travel may be reduced as ICTs can connect them ‘virtually’ to local and distant opportunities. However, ICTs may also facilitate the growth of social networks that provide opportunities for people to move. In general, ICTs contribute to the increasingly complex intertwining of rural and urban livelihoods and connections.
- Overall, ethnographic research shows that ICTs do not transform existing social structures; instead people adopt and adapt ICTs in multiple ways that support aspects of local cultures, solidarities and familial bonds.
Many of these findings are derived from literature that does not specifically focus on the HoA itself, but from other African or Global South contexts that are relevant to the region. The review identifies gaps in existing research in HoA contexts, where relevant studies are few or almost entirely lacking. These gaps relate to the following:
- Specific everyday ICT use by rural–urban migrants, displaced people or refugees within the HoA: mobile phones (and mobile money) are increasingly integral to the livelihoods of vulnerable displaced communities, and to their engagement with humanitarian and commercial actors. Better understanding of how displaced people use such ICTs could inform humanitarian programming and further illuminate emerging dynamics in the political economy of aid (where partnerships with, for example, telecom companies have become significant).
- HoA pastoralist communities’ use of ICTs: there is existing literature on the effect of ICTs on pastoralists in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania but more research is needed to compare these findings with under-studied contexts such as Somalia/Somaliland and South Sudan.
- Local needs and capabilities of vulnerable, mobile populations in relation to access to and use of ICTs, and digital literacy: more detailed ethnographic research is needed on how populations in under-studied countries or areas of the HoA access and use ICTs, their capability and difficulties in accessing and using these technologies, and their existing digital literacy skills.
- The role of online platforms in the spread of content that contributes to conflict (and displacement): the changing information environment (in which social media play an increasingly large role) can contribute to insecurity and instability that create forced mobility. Examination of social media practices in conflict contexts is needed to understand how (and from where) content flows, is engaged with, and affects local security conditions.
- Country-by-country research into national ICT policy and its consideration of mobility: the extent to which governments and humanitarian actors in the HoA are formulating ICT- related policies that take into account migration and mobile populations remains unclear. Research on the future of regional ICT infrastructure (eg undersea and terrestrial cable links) could also illuminate future connectivity trends, with implications for rural ICT use and livelihoods mobilities.
- The role of ICTs in monitoring, enforcing or circumventing Covid-19 mobility restrictions: at the time of writing, the Coronavirus pandemic is having a profound impact on global regimes and patterns of mobility. It is unclear how long-term impacts will be felt in the HoA. Research is needed into the ways in which states and humanitarian actors have used ICTs to control HoA mobilities, the extent to which these have been effective, and the ways in which mobile populations have responded to them.
You will need a PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat (downloadable from Adobe) to view PDF file(s).