It’s great to see the global reach of our website over the last three years (since January 2023) in the map below. Just a few countries still to crack! We look forward to those living in one of the pale grey states discovering our research and practice – please spread the word. To be sure the dominant countries in terms of visitors remain the UK and USA, but Nepal (3rd), South Africa (6th) and India (7th) are also in the top 10.
In case you are concerned about how we use your data, please see our Privacy Policy. In essence, all we use your data for is to find out the countries from which we receive visitors, and can therefore generate maps such as this.
Prof. G. ‘Hari’ Harindranath was delighted to to moderate the ITCILO Labour Migration Academy webinar on Digitalisation and Fair Recruitment – Sharing Experiences held on 23 October 2025. This was attended by over 50 practitioners from around the world representing governments, employers, trade unions, and civil society groups. They were joined by three experts who shared national experiences of digitalising fair recruitment processes in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal:
Neha Choudhary discussed Nepal’s Foreign Employment Information Management System (FEIMS), designed to reduce information asymmetries in the labour migration supply chain by connecting migrant workers, recruiters, employers, and other relevant actors.
Rahnuma Salam Khan introduced Bangladesh’s Recruitment Agents’ Information Management System (RAIMS), which enhances oversight of recruitment agencies and intermediaries, promoting transparency and accountability.
Dr. K.V. Swamy (former GM, Overseas Manpower Company of Andhra Pradesh, India) shared his experiences with India’s eMigrate system, which connects and monitors all stakeholders involved in labour migration.
Key insights from the discussion
Key insights from the discussions were:
Digitalisation can be transformational for fair recruitment. It enables more integrated engagement across stakeholders in the labour migration cycle, improving data collection and analysis, increasing transparency and accountability, reducing migration costs, and offering quicker access to grievance resolution mechanisms.
However, these benefits cannot be taken for granted. Labour migration recruitment is complex and risk laden. Digital tools alone cannot eliminate exploitation or structural inequities. Successful digitalisation of fair recruitment requires significant groundwork, including:
A migrant-first approach, aligned with the principle of “nothing about us without us”
A whole-of-government approach to ensure policy coherence and a data governance approach to match
Organisational cultural change across stakeholders to enable new ways of working
Commitment to digital skills development and ensuring accessibility for all migrant workers
Complementary on-the-ground interventions to ensure inclusion of the most vulnerable, who are often least likely to benefit from digital systems
Ethical and privacy safeguards that underpin digital systems, ensuring compliance with data protection regulations and safeguarding migrant workers’ rights.
Hari would like to thank the ITCILO for convening this panel, all the participants and staff for their engagement, and particularly Elton Di Tommazi Maciel and Michela Albertazzi for inviting him to moderate the session.
We are delighted to share the news that Profs G. ‘Hari’ Harindranath and Tim Unwin have received the award for “Best Collaborative and Innovation Research Project” from Royal Holloway, University of London for 2025 at their annual Festival of Research on 19th June for their ongoing research-practice with many other organisations across four continents on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech in marginalised/peripheral communities, working especially with migrants and refugees. [The background to the image on the right is from one of their visits to the UNESCO offices in Nepal in 2023]
Their ‘project project was informed by social science research and resulted in the generation of interventions and training resources that were adopted by community groups and NGOs’ … To deliver outputs at scale, they have ‘engaged innovatively with international stakeholders, including third sector organisations (NGOs), international bodies (UNESCO, IOM, ILO) and key industry partners (community tech organisations). The sheer size, scale and duration of project activities are testament to the hard work’ they have invested. ‘Generating partnerships on such a global scale will not have come without its challenges, so [they] should be incredibly proud of [their] achievements in undertaking such a huge project’
Awards citation for research collaboration and innovation, Royal Holloway, University of London
More details of their work can be seen as follows:
Their main contributions on migrant use of digital tech within the UKRI GCRF funded MIDEQ project (2019-2024) can be fiund through these links:
Links to main work in Nepal (including freely available resources)
Guidance for small civil society organisations in English and Portuguese (for Mozambique)
Many organisations are contributing to this ongoing research, and full acknowledgement to them all is given in the links above.
A list of selected academic publications relating to this research:
Lorini, M.R., Harindranath, G. and Unwin, T. (2025) Responsible Digital: Co-Creating Safe, Wise and Secure Digital Interventions with Vulnerable Groups, Information Systems Frontiers, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10796-025-10611-4
Harindranath, G., Unwin, T., Lorini, M.R. (2024). The Design and Use of Digital Technologies in the Context of South–South Migration, in: Crawley, H. and Teye, J.K. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of South–South Migration and Inequality, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39814-8_23
Harindranath, G. , Unwin, T. and Lorini, M.R. (2023) Rethinking digital tech policy for (and with) migrants, Chapter 8 in: UNRISD (United Nations Research Institute for Social Development) and MIDEQ (Migration for Development and Equality) Migration and Inequality in the Global South: Evidence from the MIDEQ Hub, Geneva: UNRISD, 36-40.
Harindranath, G. and Unwin, T. (2022) Digital technologies, migration and the SDG agenda, in: Piper, N. and Ditta, K. (eds) Elgar Companion to Migration and the SDGs, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar (in press)
Unwin, T., Marcelin, L.H., de Souza e Silva, J., Otero, G., Lorini, M.R., Anyadi, C., Gonçalves, D.M., Sato, D.P. and Harindranath, G. (2022) Uses of digital technologies by migrants from Haiti and to Brazil, Egham: UNESCO Chair in ICT4D, Royal Holloway, University of London, Working Papers No.4.
Majidi, N., Kasavan, C. & Harindranath, G. (2021) In support of return and reintegration? A roadmap for a responsible use of technology, in: McAuliffe, M. (ed.) Research Handbook on International Migration and Digital Technology, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 220-236.
Unwin, T., Ghimire, A., Yeoh, S-G., New, S.S., Kishna, S.S., Gois, W., Lorini, M.R. and Harindranath, G. (2021) Uses of digital technologies by Nepali migrants in Malaysia, Egham: UNESCO Chair in ICT4D, Royal Holloway, University of London, Working Papers No.1.
Harindranath, G. and Unwin, T (2019), Digital technologies and migration: Reducing inequalities or creating new ones?, TREO Talk, International Conference on Information Systems, 15th December, Munich, Germany.
Harindranath, G. (2019) Digital technologies, migration and inequality, Presentation, Copenhagen Business School-Royal Holloway School of Management Joint Workshop, 16th September, Royal Holloway, UK.
To find out more about our work, do get in touch through our Contact Page.
Projectitis is the bane of much good research and practice, whereby often well-intentioned people get caught up in a vicious cycle of bidding for project funding, delivering outputs, producing evidence of success, and then bidding again for new projects. All too frequently, insufficient effort is expended on supporting those involved to continue delivering positive outcomes in the years following the end of a project. In 2019 we were fortunate enough to be part of a successful bid for UKRI GCRF funding for a five year research Hub focusing on migration for development and equality (MIDEQ). By its end in 2024 it was clear that our work package on how migrants might benefit from using digital tech had only really just begun to generate outputs and outcomes to benefit the lives of the migrants and migrant organisations with whom we were working in Nepal and South Africa, and that more work needed to be done to help ensure that these outcomes became a lasting legacy of our work together.
Some of our reflections at the end of 2023 about how migrants might actually benefit from the millions of pounds spent on the academic research undertaken during MIDEQ were published as Unwin, T., Casentini, G., Harindranath, G. and Lorini, M.R. (2023) What works for migrants: reflections on research practice in the interests of migrants (Egham: ICT4D Collective, Working Paper 1). This reinforced our determination to try to find ways through which we could continue to support those with whom we had started working during MIDEQ, and we have been very fortunate to benefit from small amounts of continued funding from Royal Holloway, University of London (ESRC Social Science Impact Accelerator, and a Research England Block Grant) which has enabled us to revisit colleagues in South Africa and Brazil to encourage deeper and wider impact and outcomes. We are very grateful to the Research Impact team (Emily Gow and Rachael Kendrew) for all of their support and flexibility in helping us take this forward.
Most recently, we have also benefitted from a further small grant from Royal Holloway, University of London’s Social Purpose Research and Knowledge Exchange Funds to enable Hari Harindranath and Tim Unwin to return to Nepal for a short visit in January 2024 to help put in place structures that will enable the work we initiated to become further embedded within the activities of our partner organisations, thereby helping to ensure outcome continuity. This work initially focused on three main areas: the Pardesi portal (https://pardesi.org.np), training resources on the safe, wise and secure/private use of digital tech by migrants, and cybersecurity guidance for small civil society organisations. However, the visit also provided an opportunity to explore future collaborative initiatives, especially with our partner organisation ACORAB/CIN, the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters in Nepal.
Our original meetings with migrant organisations in Nepal in September 2022 had emphasised the need that they had identified for an overarching portal for migrants to provide accurate access to relevant and reliable information about all aspects of the migration process. This was not at all intended to duplicate existing information, but instead to provide a simple way for migrants to access the important information that they needed and that is already available on various disparate sites. Originally, we had supported many of the main migrant organisations and people within the local tech community to come together collectively to create this resource, not least so that all of the important entities felt involved in its creation and maintenance. However, it had become evident over the year since the end of MIDEQ that this needed to be complemented by firm direction and leadership to ensure effective updating and development of the portal, and as a result of meetings held during our visit we are delighted that Pourakhi, a human rights defender organization run by and for returnee Nepali women migrants, has agreed to take on this role.
Resources for migrants on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech
Meeting with Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari, Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security, and colleagues from Pourakhi
Meeting with Anjali Shrestha, National Migrant Resource Center Officer (NMRC)
During our original MIDEQ project we had developed a set of training resources in the six main languages used in Nepal to empower migrants to use digital tech safely, wisely and securely, with the original intention that these could be rolled out through the training provided by the Migrant Resource Centres (MRCs) in every province of the country. Despite previous meetings with government officials over the previous three years, changes in official roles and the evolution of government policies meant that we had not yet achieved this aim. Persistence and continued commitment nevertheless pays off, and we were delighted that we were able to share information about our work on this visit with the new Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security, and that our good friend Anjali Shrestha (the National Migrant Resource Center Officer) has committed to finding ways through which counsellors at the MRCs can receive training based on the resources that we have already developed, supplemented by new posters and advice on key messages (see section on new resources being developed with ACORAB below).
Developing our partnership with ACORAB/CIN
The ACORAB/CIN studio
The ACORAB/CIN studio
During our initial MIDEQ work we signed an official parntership Memorandum of Understanding with ACORAB/CIN, the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters in Nepal, who helped to disseminate our original resources on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech to their regular audience of 6.7 million people across the country. We have comntinued to work together in training and advocacy, with ACORAB/CIN for example participating actively in the workshop we held at the WSIS+20 session on the future of community media in Geneva in May 2024. Our latest visit to Nepal helped to cement this relationship, with Tim Unwin delivering a seminar on Community Radio in an Increasingly Digital World, and agreements were also reached on the production and dissemination of new resources on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech. These will include posters and podcasts on key issues of importance to migrant digital safety and privacy.
Sharing information and exploring new ideas with international organisations
Tim Unwin receiving a certificate of appreciation from Prajwal Sharma at IOM
Meeting with Dollie Shaha at BBC Nepal
We worked closely with colleagues in international and bilateral organisations in Nepal during our original MIDEQ project and this visit provided a valuable opportunity to update colleagues in IOM, UNESCO, and the British Embassy about our work as well as to explore possible future synergies. All too often staff in these organisations move on to new roles and it is therefore very important to develop new personal relationships wtih their successors to ensure that valuable institutional links are maintained. This visit also provided a useful opportunity to meet with staff at BBC Nepal to learn about their work and relationships with ACORAB/CIN.
Meetings with migrant organisations and others involved in our MIDEQ work
One of the main purposes of our visit was to meet with the local migrant organisations wth whom we had worked during MIDEQ to learn more about their current activities and how we might continue to work together both on the pardesi.org.np portal as well as on propagating messages about the safe, and secure use of digital tech. In addition to thos colleagues depicted above and below, we also met with Bijaya Kimari Rai Shrestha from AMKAS and Anita Ghimire from ISER-N.
Measuring the real outcomes of our work for the lives of individual migrants and their organisations remains difficult. We are very hopeful that as a result of our visit many new initiatives will take place that will help us together to achieve lasting outcomes:
Under Pourakhi’s oversight, working with many of our original MIDEQ colleagues, the pardesi.org.np portal will regularlly be updated and enhanced.
Our basic resources on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech will be rolled out for all the counsellors in the 77 Migrant Resource Centres by the end of the year, and awareness raising posters and leaflets in relevant languages will also be made available for them.
Our cybersecurity resources for civil society organisations will be translated into Nepali and distributed to relevant organisations in Nepal.
ACORAB/CIN will continue to share information about the importance of cybersecurity at individual and organisational level through its support for local community radio stations.
At an organisational level, we will continue to work with ACORAB to help them engage appropriately in relevant digitalisation processes, and with IOM in the delivery of their Migration School.
Across all of these initiatives, we have put in place mechanisms to enable us better to understand the outcomes of our research-practice, not least so that we can share further information about what works and what challenges remain so that others can learn from our experiences. We believe that hearing from migrants themselves is one of the best ways to share such understandings (see videos here), and so this post closes with a short commentary from Swarna Kumar Sha from NNSM, the umbrella organization of civil society organizations in Nepal working in the field of labour migration and development, about his experiences of working with us.
The ICT4D Collective was delighted to be involved in delivering an online workshop/seminar with our partners ACORAB (the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters) and CIN (Community Information Network) in Nepal on 24th July. This drew on our previous work in Nepal, as well as the session on community radio that we ran earlier in the year at WSIS+20 together with other organisations and partners. These form part of our increasing work on cyber-security. Some 70 participants, mostly journalists from community radio stations, participated in the two-and-a-half hour workshop which had four main aims:
To share information and ideas about the work that members of the Collective have been doing, mainly with migrants, on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech in Nepal, South Africa, Brazil and Mozamibique;
To provide participants with advice that will hopefully be of value to them both personally and in their professional lives;
To share resources on cyber-security that can be used through community radio to advise listeners in Nepal; and
An opportunity for discussion and dialogue between participants
The slide deck used for the workshop is available here, and we would love to hear any feedback or suggestions about the content through our contact page.
During one of our research visits to South Africa in January 2024 it became abundantly clear that many small and poorly resourced civil society organisations have little experience of using digital tech safely, wisely and securely. Drawing on good practices across the world, as well as our subsequent experiences in and with colleagues from Brazil, Nepal and Mozambiaue, we have therefore produced a short (12 page) guide to help such organisations understand the risks they are at from the use of digital tech and how they can be mitigated. This contains useful tips, graphics that can be copied and reversioned into posters, as well as links to more detailed sourcers of information, and it is freely available in English under a Creative Commons CC BY SA license.
Please get in touch using our contact page should you have any comments on how this could be improved or to discuss developing versions in other languages or for other contexts, and do please share information about this resource through your own networks.
This second segment centred on the secure utilization of information technology for safe migration, and featured Swarna Kumar Jha, the Coordinator of the National Network for Safe Migration-NNSM Nepal, and Sindhu Aryal, the Secretary General of Pourakhi Nepal, both of whom have worked tirelessly with us over the last couple of years in helping to develop the https://pardesi.org.np portal and training resources on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech (as part of the work of the MIDEQ Hub funded by UKRI GCRF). It was broadcast on February 17, 2024, immediately following the Sajha Khabar news bulletin at 7 am, as part of their regular programme “Sajha Nepal”. It has already garnered 243 views on their Facebook channel. However, “Sajha Khabar” is also distributed to over 300 community radio stations throughout Nepal, reaching over 6.7 million people, which will significantly extend the reach of the social media channel for this episode.
The programme also incorporates vox pops from survivors who have recounted their challenges while employed as migrant workers, and a report presented by Ms. Sushila Shrestha (from the 19:10-minute mark to the 22:20-minute mark) greatly enhances the programme’s interest.
We are delighted to see our recent partnership agreement with ACORAB and CIN in Nepal already bearing fruit. This was designed in part to share information about the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech, especially in remote areas of the country, as well as providing migrants with information about the new portal https://pardesi.org.np that we helped to craft with a range of migrant organisations and tech developers as part of our contribution to the MDEQ Hub.
Sajha Nepal Episode 1: Featuring Kabiraj Upreti from the Department of Labour and Occupational Safety, Government of Nepal and Aayush Pradhananga from AuraEd.
ACORAB, the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, Nepal, and CIN, their Community Information Network, have collaboratively developed radio programmes based on some of the resources we have developed with our partners in Nepal. Two recent broadcasts show the considerable importance of community radio as a means for sharing information:
A Public Service Announcement developed earlier in 2024 which included a short section about safe migration had received 4,900 views on Facebook by 6th February, and its final broadcast was on 12th February. By today (14th February) it had received 5,600 views and 452 likes.
ACORAB also extended an invitation to several individuals that we had recommended to participate in a radio programme on secure use of information technology for safe migration, and Kabiraj Upreti from the Department of Labour and Occupational Safety and Aayush Pradhananga from AuraEd were able to participate in a recording session on 5th February. Subsequently this was aired on 7th February immediately following the Sajha Khabar news bulletin at 7 am, as part of their regular program “Sajha Nepal”, and it has also already reached over 1,000 views on Facebook, with 45 likes.
There are more than 300 community radio stations in ACORAB’s network, and these reach over 6.7 million people throughout Nepal, many of whom will have also heard these broadcaste. We are incredibly grateful to everyone at ACORAB and CIN, especially their programme manager Ayeesha Joshi, for helping to make this happen, and look forward to hearing in due course from some of those who have listened to the broadcasts about how they have changed their digital behaviours as a result.
We very much look forward to continuing our work with ACORAB and CIN, and to help them develop their broadcasting capacity, drawing on good practices globally, and optimising the use ot digital technologies.
Members of the ICT4D Collective are delighted to announce a new partnership with ACORAB, the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, Nepal, and CIN, their Community Information Network. This follows meetings in Kathmandu in December 2023, mainly concerning the dissemination of resources we have developed collaboratively with migrant organisations in Nepal through our research-practice in the MIDEQ Hub (funded by UKRI GCRF). We are very excited that information about the https://pardesi.org.np portal and our learning resources on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech in the six main languages used in Nepal have already been shared across their network of 382 community radio stations in the country.
The intended outputs of the partnership include:
Jointly convening awareness raising programmes in Nepal on community radio and digital tech
Jointly convening sessions at relevat international meetings on community radio and development
Joint training programs to enhance the technical skills of community radio broadcasters on utilizing ICT tools
Explorations of innovative ways to merge ICT with community radio for better outreach and impact
Identification of resources for joint projects that aim to enhance the role of ICT in community radio and vice versa
Joint development and broadcasting of advice of safe, wise and secure use of digital tech, especially for migrants.
We anticipate that these will help achieve the following outcomes:
Enhanced capacity of commuity radio broadcasters in Nepal
The work of ACORAB and CIN is better known in the international community
More sustainable development and use of community radio in Nepal, especially by migrants and their families
Enhanced well-being of people in Nepal (especially in marginalised communities)
Increased international suport for the work of ACORAB and CIN in Nepal
[Click on images or links to download the relevant press release]
Events
Lalitpur
10 December 2023, Lalitpur, Nepal: The launch of the digital tech interventions for Nepali migrants facilitated by Work Package 9 of the MIDEQ Hub took place today in the Hotel Himalaya, Lalitpur. Eighty participants from government, civil society, the private sector, international organisations and digital tech students attended. The two key interventions that Hari Harindranath, Tim Unwin and Maria Rosa Lorini (from the ICT4D Collective and Royal Holloway, University of London) had helped their Nepali colleagues to create were presented: the https://pardesi.org.np portal, which is a one-stop-shop for migrants and their families to find out about all aspects of the migration process; and resources that can be used to train migrants in the safe, wise and secure (or private) uses of digital tech, which have been designed to be especially useful in the Migrant Resource Centres.
Finalising details with them of a portal to bring together existing information of relevance to migrants so that they can readily gain reliable advice on all aspects of migration. There are many existing apps and websites relating to migration for Nepali citizens, not least the advice provided by the government. However, migrant organisations told us early on in our work with them that there was a real need for such a one-stop-shop, and we have been supporting them as they have been creating this portal together with local tech developers. This is due to be launched in December 2023, and the migrants also made some short videos that will be used to promote the portal in advance of the launch.
A second element of work suggested by the organisations was the need for basic training guidance for migrants in multiple languages used in Nepal on the safe, wise and secure/private use of digital tech. Following the development of a training programme earlier in 2023, along with guidance notes on how the slide deck can be used, migrants rquested a more basic set of information. Having produced this before our visit, we tested it out again in Kathmandu, and following some further revisions this is now being translated into relevant languages, and will also be availabe at the launch in December.
The visit also provided an opportunity to meet with colleagues from different organisations based in Kathmandu, primarily to explore ways through which these resources can best be disseminated, notably the Government of Nepal’s Foreign Employment Bureau, the ILO Office in Kathmandu, and the UNESCO office in Kathmandu. We are very grateful for their strong support and the advice that they have given us. It was also good to meet with Nayan Pokhrel who has led on the translation of our work, and has provide much useful information about Nepal for us.
In Pokhara, we followed a similar pattern of work including:
Meetings with our partners at Gandaki University as well as those involved in training young people in digital skills at the National Innovation Centre’s ICT & Electronics Innovation Lab, and staff at Gandaki Medical College and hospital.
A review session on the basic training deck we have been creating together on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech, with colleagues from Gandaki University, the MRC in Pokhara, and NEST in Pokhara.
We were also grateful to have an opportunity to see some of the wealth of cultural heritage of Nepal, especially around Patan Durbar Square and Kathmandu Durbar Square which have been so lovingly restored after the earthquake of 2015.
The session, which aligned especially with SDG10 and WSIS Action Lines C3, C4, C5, C7(iii, iv,v), C8 and C10, was structured around our digital interventions from Nepal and South Africa using a series of short-form videos ‘created by migrants for migrants’ as a framing device for the discussion. The contributions highlighted many inequalities faced by migrants and how digital tech can meaningfully address them as well as how digital tech can support personal life choices, offer networking opportunities, and become a peer-to-peer learning tool. The overarching theme was the need for all actors at the interface of digital tech and migration to be mindful of the need to ensure the safe, secure and wise use of digital tech by migrants.
Despite increasing evidence of the challenges to the beneficial use of digital tech by vulnerable migrants, actors such as tech companies, international and local organisations continue to design technologies aimed at migrants without due regard to their unintended consequences. International organisations and fora such as WSIS that are at the forefront of digital inclusion must recognise not just the opportunities offered by digital tech for migrants but also the risks and harms associated with them. This is especially important given the pervasive structural inequalities and limited digital capabilities that characterise many migrant contexts.
WP9 co-lead Prof G Hari Harindranath led the session with Prof Tim Unwin and Dr Maria Rosa Lorini while Bryce Hartley from GSMA (online) and Julien Varlin from ILO Geneva served as discussants. The highly interactive hybrid session was attended by senior government officials and representatives from international organisations, CSOs and tech companies as well as researchers.
We also used the in-person WSIS Forum in beautiful Geneva as an opportunity to discuss pathways to impact for our work with colleagues at IOM and ILO.
ICT4D Collective 