ABOUT FORCED MIGRATION STUDIES PROGRAMME

Migration and displacement affect societies around the world. Nowhere are their impacts more evident than in Africa, where movements of people as a result of war, poverty, and persecution are central to the region’s economics and politics. While migration is transforming Africa, the continent lacks the capacity to understand and manage these movements. The Forced Migration Studies Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand is designed to address this need.

The Forced Migration Studies Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand is Southern Africa’s premier centre for academic research and teaching on migration, aid, and social transformation. Since its foundation in 1998, it has become a key reference point for academics, service provides, and policy makers. Its staff and associates conduct innovative, empirically grounded research and training on migration and humanitarianism in the African context together with select post-graduate students from across the continent and beyond. Supported by the University’s extensive libraries and other resources, the programme provides critical research skills while contextualising theoretical debates on migration, displacement, and humanitarianism in Africa.

The programme’s teaching is designed for students and practitioners seeking greater insight into the causes and consequences of migration in Africa from a global perspective. It provides an introduction for those new to the field and opportunity for reflection for those with practical experience. Based in Johannesburg – the heart of southern Africa’s politics, culture, and economy – the FMSP’s teaching and research staff include scholars from diverse geographic and disciplinary backgrounds.

Programme graduates are now working at universities, non-governmental and governmental agencies, and international organizations throughout Africa.

In addition to the programme’s own academic research, the FMSP has been contracted for research and analysis by entities including the South African Human Rights Commission; the South African Cities Network; the World Health Organisation; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; and the South African National Consortium of Refugee Affairs.

“There is a need for capacity-building in African states, enabling them to collect better migration data and to formulate and implement more effective migration policies”

Global Commission on International Migration (2005)