Egypt - IOM has teamed up with Bassita, the inventors of Clickfunding, an innovative means of online social campaigning, to launch "It's a Match," a campaign to promote diversity in Egypt and enhance social cohesion among Syrians and their host communities. The campaign is supported by the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM.)

“The campaign uses gamification to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between Syrians and their Egyptian host communities in order to break down social barriers in one of Cairo’s rural neighbourhoods. We also hope to create a positive economic impact through injecting some liquidity into the neighbourhood’s local businesses,” said IOM Egypt Head of Office Amr Taha.

The campaign will provide 1,000 halved coupons worth EGP 40 (USD 5) each to 500 Syrians and 500 Egyptians provided that the “cause” will reach at least 100,000 points. It features a video promoting community reinforcement, animations, photos and articles that will be posted on the campaign website as well as on other online outlets. Every view, share or like is translated into points that add up the overall target of the campaign. To be able to cash their coupons, participants will need to meet their counterparts, get introduced and take a selfie together.

The Clickfunding model encourages web users to contribute to a social cause through online engagement. “Clickfunding aspires to change the world, today it gets to change behaviors,” said Alban de Menonville, co-founder of Bassita.

The campaign is part of a more extensive programme falling under the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan for Syria (3RP), which also aims at providing social assistance to Syrians in Egypt and host communities in order to improve their living conditions and increase social cohesion, resilience and ultimately prevent irregular and unsafe migration.

IOM provides a number of services to migrants in Egypt, including the direct assistance such as non-food items, socio-economic assistance and health services. It also provides voluntary return assistance to countries of origin and resettlement services to eligible migrants, including Syrian refugees.

Link to the campaign’s video and pictures
 

For further information, please contact Amr Taha at IOM Egypt, Tel: +20 2273 65140, Email: iomcairo@iom.int