Unesco Chair "Population, Migrations and Development"

19/11/2025

Stay updated on MAPS latest activities downloading our second Newsletter at the following link!

Stay updated on MAPS latest activities, please download our Newsletter.

18/11/2025

Within the first MAPS Summer School “Understanding Migration and Forced Displacement in Sub-Saharan Africa”, co-financed by the European Commission, 40 talented early career researchers from across Sub-Saharan Africa gathered at AMREF International University (AMIU) in Nairobi.

Participants explored the themes related to the four pillars of Peace, People, Planet and Prosperity gaining new tools and perspectives to better understand and address migration and displacement dynamics in the region.

A heartfelt thank you to all MAPS partners and the European Commission for making this initiative possible, and to all participants for creating such a dynamic, collaborative, and inspiring learning environment!

Find out more on https://capacity4dev.europa.eu/news/thank-you-all-participants-making-our-first-maps-summer-school-success_en

07/11/2025

We are pleased to inform you that the first MAPS Summer School titled “Understanding Migration and Forced Displacement in Sub-Saharan Africa” will be hosted by AMREF International University (AMIU) in Nairobi, Kenya, from 10 to 14 November. This international school seeks to provide young researchers with a rigorous and interdisciplinary framework for understanding migration as a multifaceted global phenomenon, through lectures, practical workshops and role-plays. In particular, participants will attend lectures and engage with international scholars in a setting suitable to facilitate exchange, networking opportunities and new research perspectives.

Training sessions will focus on Migration Concepts, Frameworks and Challenges analysed through four thematic areas:

Planet - Climate change;
Prosperity - Economic and Social Dimension of Immigration;
People - Health, Age and Gender;
Peace - Policies and Practices.

Learn more on https://capacity4dev.europa.eu/projects/migration-and-displacement-action-plan-sub-saharan-africa-maps_en under the "Event" section.

Description The MAPS Project seeks to inform migration and forced displacement policy-making in Sub-Saharan Africa through comprehensive, multidisciplinary research. The project, with a budget of €10 million, is primarily funded by the European Commission and brings together a network of European ...

10/10/2025

Prof Francesca Panero from Sapienza University of Rome and Dr Emma Kopp from Paris Dauphine University, will present a webinar on «Predicting food security using secondary data, and a reflection on the links of food and migration»

The talk will start with an introduction on the problem of estimation of food security levels. Usually, governments and international organisations run surveys to estimate food security, but this is an extremely expensive and sometimes dangerous activity. To complement these surveys, we will walk with you through the pros and cons of estimating such measures using machine learning and statistical methods trained on secondary data such as economical, demographical, environmental and conflict data. We will compare the outputs of Gaussian processes, XGBoost and neural networks to forecast regional levels of food security over African countries. We will conclude with a reflection on how research on food security could be linked to the study of dynamicsin migrations.

To join the online discussion, please use this link: https://meet.google.com/mwd-rcdy-sun

29/09/2025

Prof Francesco Castelli UNESCO Chair on Training and Empowering Human Resources for Health Development in Resource-Limited Countries, from University of Brescia in Italy, will present a webinar on «Drivers of migration. Why do people move?»

To join the online discussion, please use this link: https://meet.google.com/mwd-rcdy-sun

06/08/2025

06/08/2025

Il 28 luglio, a Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), si è svolta la conferenza inaugurale del progetto MAPS, co-finanziato dalla Commissione Europea, dedicata al tema “Migration and Displacement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards a Knowledge-Based Agenda”.
L’evento ha segnato un momento cruciale per creare connessioni tra università, istituzioni pubbliche, organizzazioni internazionali, società civile africana ed europea, e rappresentanti della diaspora dei dieci Paesi africani coinvolti: Etiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Costa d’Avorio, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sud Sudan e Sudafrica.
La conferenza ha offerto un’opportunità concreta di dialogo tra ricercatori e decisori politici, con l’obiettivo di condividere buone pratiche, individuare nuove priorità di intervento e promuovere un approccio interdisciplinare, attento alla protezione delle persone più vulnerabili.

On July 28, in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), the inaugural conference of the MAPS project, co-financed by the European Commission, took place under the title “Migration and Displacement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards a Knowledge-Based Agenda.”
The event marked a key moment in fostering connections between universities, public institutions, international organizations, African and European civil society, and diaspora actors from the project’s ten target African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, South Sudan, and South Africa.
The conference provided a valuable platform to encourage dialogue between academia and policymakers, exchange best practices, and identify new priorities for action. The approach was interdisciplinary, with a strong focus on protecting the most vulnerable populations.

18/07/2025

We’re glad to announce the first edition of the MAPS (Migration and Displacement Action Plan for Sub-Saharan Africa) project's newsletter!

Check it out on the project's website:

Launching of MAPS – Migration Action Plan for Sub-Saharan Africa, a three-year initiative funded by the European Union through the EuropeAid programme. Stay updated on the latest news and activities!