Call for expression of interest for the provision in view of a study on channels used by migrants and asylum seekers to obtain information in countries of origin and tran

Negotiated procedure NO HOME-2015-AMIF-PN-MIGR-0004

The European Commission, Directorate-General for Migration and Home-Affairs, is planning to launch a procurement procedure for a middle-value contract (not exceeding EUR 135,000) for a duration of four months regarding a scientific technical analysis aiming at providing a detailed overview of the way migrants arriving and staying in the European Union obtain information about the journey and destination country.

The analysis will look, more specifically, into how migrants gather information about routes, transport possibilities, about the smugglers that can facilitate their journey and the cost of this facilitation. It will also explore how migrants that reach the EU send information back to their relatives in their countries of origin and what type of information they send.

The specific objective of the contract is to identify information and communication channels used across migrant profiles and along the routes from the country of origin, though transit and in the country of destination. In particular, the role of social media, mobile apps and online content should be analysed, as these communication channels deeply affect the phenomenon of migration, in additional to traditional media such as radio and TV, and word-of-mouth communication.

The aim of the proposed technical analysis is to study these sources of information and channels of communication in order to:

(i) Provide an overview on migration information and communication channels, i.e. how migrants arriving and staying in the European Union obtain relevant information, how do they choose their target country, how they keep themselves up-to-date during their journey and in first period of staying in the EU;

(ii) Assess how they relate such information and which channels they use to communicate and exchange information with their peers in countries of origin, between them and with local contacts;

(iii) Identify who is funding and operating the social media and online content identified when performing this assessment.

The above analysis should be primarily based on interviews with a broad variety of migrants, as well as returnees for Lot1 (see below), while the analysis for Lot 2 (see below) should also allow for analysing how online tools are being used:

LOT 1: along migratory route starting in countries of West Africa (Nigeria, Mali, Guinea, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia) with a Transit through Niger and Libya

LOT 2: in ITALY as a first arrival country

If you are interested in this contract, please send an email, together with the filled-in reply form, in one of the official languages of the European Union, by no later than 09/10/2016 to the following functional mail box: HOME-E1-PROCUREMENT@ec.europa.eu.