Overview
In a role-play activity, students will be official spokespersons for the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, an organization based in Geneva, Switzerland that provides data and analysis and supports partners to identify and implement solutions to internal displacement. In this activity the spokespersons will present oral reports to U.N. agency that wants to make a one-minute video about the issue of global displacement to distribute around the world via the internet.
Setup
Divide the class into 5 groups. Using the IDMC Global Report website, search in the ‘Part 1: The global picture - People living in displacement’ tab for the Top 5 countries where people are being displaced. Each group will be assigned a country from either of the ‘Conflict and Violence’ list or the ‘Disasters’ list.
Instructions
Use the website to research and analyse the data for your country as it relates to displacement. Prepare one-minute presentations on each of the following topics:
Displacement Overview: facts and figures related to both Conflict and Violence and Disaster displacement. You may refer to the ‘Overview’ section for your country, but be sure to put the information in your own words.
Drivers of Displacement: historical context and development for some of the displacement seen in your country.
Impact: some of the impact that displacement has had on the country and its people.
Presentation and Discussion
Each group should make a formal presentation to the class (powerpoint or other visual aides may be used). Once all of the groups have finished, the class will discuss how each country could address the issues they are having.
Personal Writing and Reflection
Search in the tabs section of the website for ‘Part 2: Solutions” and find the ‘Conclusions’ tab at the bottom of the page (can also be found here). Read the short excerpt. Write a paragraph explaining the two most important points made in the excerpt. Defend your answer.
Extension Activity (optional)
Each group will create a one-minute video about the issue of internal displacement based on the presentations given in class. Groups will need to collaborate in order to include information about more than the country that was the topic of their presentation. Videos should feature people speaking, but other elements may be included as well (music, photos, etc). Divide the task among the group members (for example: 1 person is in charge of the script, one person is in charge of filming, one person is in charge of what information, etc).
