Migration Webinar Series

APRIL 20 - Impacts of Human Migration – Student Presentation Opportunity

In response to the “Migration Webinar Series” outlined below, students, ages 15+ will present their learning to a global audience. High school, secondary and college students are all welcome to present.

Student Presenter Registration:

--- only register here if you are a student intending to do a presentation on April 20:

tinyurl.com/vcfgl-StudentsPresent210420

“Audience” member registration:

--- use this link if you wish to watch the student presentations:https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3iDZIlxDQpCKk_h8y91IWQ

 

Recordings of the talks are linked below:

Week 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv79xkR05kA

Week 2: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lN_ofpaSYlE

Week 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfH1qU3S4t8

Week 4: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QinbqqzrnUA  

WHY:

This occasion provides an opportunity for students to process the information from the webinar series and present their learning to a global audience. The four original talks in the migration webinar series highlighted major contributing factors that lead to population movement from one area to another. And further highlighted major implications and complications for all those impacted.

APPROXIMATE SCHEDULE OF PRESENTATIONS ON APRIL 20 (subject to change so check back for updates!)

1)

2)

3)

 Registration link: https://forms.gle/5Ho5TQ7vMKgbd4mS7

Project Team:

Dr. Claudette Crawford-Brown, Institute for Caribbean Children and Families 

Dr. Khadijah Williams, Village Academy, Jamaica

Mr. Sydney Henry, Village Academy, Jamaica

Mr. René Carver, Video Conferencing for Global Learning

Rationale:

Migrant populations are significantly more likely to be subjected to oppression and open hostility. Emotional, physical, and mental stressors result in increased rates of illnesses generally and trauma related illnesses in particular. During periods of migrant family separation instances of negative outcomes are even more pronounced.  This series of Migration Webinars seeks to provide awareness of and education about 4 themes related to migration.

Using Zoom video conferencing software, three to four classrooms will be live and interactive with the expert presenter. Other classes will join in view-only mode. The events will be live-streamed and recorded for even broader access and for those who are not able to attend during the live sessions.  The fifth and final gathering will be a webinar wherein a series of student developed presentations will be given. Student presentations will be based on any combination of the four themes for the project.  These student presentations will be suitable as a form of assessment for their course.

Project Objectives:

• Promote a deeper global understanding about migration so as to contribute to better relationships with migrants

• Strengthen connections between migrants, host communities and communities of origin

• Highlight challenges posed by migration on the health and well being of migrants and their families

• To increase access to live interactive conversations between global participants so as to better raise awareness of the impact of migration on children and families in a global context using conversations across borders.

Target audience:

High school and college students studying civics, social studies, integrated studies, history. Participants will be based in at least Europe, North America, Africa, the Caribbean

Themes, Dates, & Presenters: (presenter biographies below)

Note - Sessions 1, 2, 3, 4 will start at 2:00pm GMT-0 (London) Use tinyurl.com/rg426jqd to convert to your local time. Session 5 will be back to back student presentations arranged as best we can with interested individuals or groups

  

• Session 1 - March 2 - Migration and Socio-cultural Awareness

Dr. Crawford-Brown will  explore the socio- cultural context of the migration experience and how these experiences may or may not be applied across cultures to increase global understanding of the complexities of the migration experience.

Dr. Williams will present on selected cases of migrant workers and their children and the outcomes of children and explore the lessons to be learnt for facilitating better and more successful assimilation in host countries. 

• Session 2 – March 9 - Migration Workers and Food Harvesting

Mr. Henry will present on food security and its interconnectedness to globalisation and international relations, specifically around migration. Specifically, he will discuss how the movement of people and the public policy which informs this, impacts on food security in a globalised world.

Dr. Esnard will examine the structural inequalities and mobilities of seasonal farm workers from the Caribbean. The work offers some insights into the structural vulnerabilities and systemic challenges of the minority groups such as women and mothers in this program. It also looks at issues of precarity and calls for regional collaboration and policies that address the systemic issues affecting the social mobilities of these workers.

• Session 3 – March 16 – Migration and Family Separation – Attachment and Loss Issues

Dr. Crawford-Brown will discuss the societal and generational impacts caused by one or both parents working abroad while children remain in the home country. These impacts include feelings of detachment, abandonment, and anger for children as well as broken marriages. In addition to negative impacts on individuals, also discussed will be the impacts on education, social services, and crime rates. 

• Session 4 – March 23 - Migration and Child & Youth Welfare Issue

Dr. Hasford will present preliminary findings and reflections on research related to migration and lived experiences of Black youth involved in the child welfare system in Ontario, Canada. The talk will explore issues of migration, anti-Black racism and policy and will highlight emerging initiatives to address the needs of Black families.

• Session 5 - April 20 - Student Presentations

throughout the day, schedule to be posted at vcfl.net as it develops

registration link: https://forms.gle/5Ho5TQ7vMKgbd4mS7

Presenter Biographies:

Claudette P J Crawford-Brown, MSW, Phd.

Director and Clinical Social Worker,

Institute for Caribbean Children and Families.

Dr. Crawford-Brown has been a lecturer in Clinical Social Work in the department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work for the past 40 years. As a Fulbright scholar she gained her PHD from Rutgers University in Brunswick New Jersey in 1993, a Master’s degree from Howard University in Washington DC, in 1979, and Bachelor’s degree from the University of the West Indies, (Mona) Jamaica in 1976. All degrees are in Social Work with a Specialization in Clinical social work with children and families.

Dr. Crawford-Brown is well known in UWI circles for her teaching and research innovations which have ranged from advocacy for children, through the children’s Lobby of Jamaica in 1986 to the conceptualization and establishment of a campus-based Violence Prevention Programme in 1996, where she developed a social laboratory for children and families and children who were victims and perpetrators of violence in all its forms. The Programme which ceased operations in 2010, used in Social Work, Psychology, Mass Communication and other students from UWI, NCU and other universities, as part of a human resource pool to provide a range of community services to inner-city schools surrounding the University and beyond, for over fifteen years.

She is the author of two books. Her first “who will save our children: the plight of the Jamaican child” (1999), which provided controversial discourse on the Jamaican Child Welfare system, and spoke to the need to rationalize children’s homes with a focus on Family Reunification. Her latest book “Children in the line of fire” looks at the impact of violence and trauma on families in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

DR. KHADIJAH WILLIAMS, Village Initiatives Foundation/Village Academy, Jamaica

Dr. Williams holds a PhD in Applied Social Sciences (Sociology/Social Work),MSc in Social Work Management and Administration and a BSc in Social Work, Psychology and Human Resource Management and postgraduate qualifications in University Teaching and Learning.  Her research and practice focus on vulnerable and marginalised children and young people and the relational issues between adults and children. She has worked for over 22 years with children and young persons (CYP) and their families in difficult circumstances. Her research on migration focuses on the impacts of forced migration (refugees/asylum seekers) on women and children and migration, child welfare and juvenile offending. Dr. Williams is currently managing a rural high school in Jamaica for vulnerable young people and also works as an adjunct lecturer and practicum supervisor in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work, UWI Mona, Jamaica.

MR. SYDNEY HENRY, Village Initiatives Foundation/Village Academy, Jamaica

Mr. Henry holds a Master of Science degree in Social Policy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. He has over twenty five years of experience in non-profit organizations serving across the Caribbean region, including Guyana, Grenada, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Haiti.  His main area of focus has been on housing for the indigent, children and young people, as well as, community development, specializing in social policy implementation and the management of social projects.  His work in community development has been in both the private and public sector, delivering projects in communities in the USA, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Haiti, and other Caribbean islands through his work for the Sandals Foundation and Food for the Poor International where he served as project manager in both organisations. 

Mr. Henry is currently the chairman and founder of the Village Initiatives Foundation, the parent organisation of Village Academy, an agricultural high school in Jamaica, which targets vulnerable rural children and young people and their families, through various initiatives with local and international partners. His most recent work focuses on public private partnerships in education and agriculture development.

DR. TALIA ESNARD, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago 

Dr. Esnard, PhD Sociology is a Lecturer and current Head/Chair of the Department of Behavioural Sciences, at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus, Trinidad and Tobago. Prior to her appointment as a Lecturer at the UWI, St. Augustine, she served as an Assistant Professor in the Center of Education for 8 years at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). As a lecturer at the UWI, St. Augustine campus, she has taught a range of courses in both qualitative and quantitative research, as well as, in development theory and praxis; both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Administratively, she previously served as Deputy Dean for Undergraduate Student Matters within the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) and as Chair for the FSS Curriculum Committee. As a researcher, she focuses on issues of women, work, and organizations; particularly within entrepreneurial and educational spheres. Some of her work has been published in the (i) Journal of Motherhood Initiative, (ii) Women, Gender and Families of Color, (iii) Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, (iv) Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, and (v) NASPA Journal about Women in Higher Education.

DR. JULIAN HASFORD, Ryerson University, Canada

Dr. Hasford is an Assistant Professor in the School of Child and Youth Care at Ryerson University, whose research and advocacy seeks to promote equity, empowerment, and well-being through systems change and community engagement, with a particular focus on African Canadians. He holds a Ph.D. in Community Psychology from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a M.H.Sc. in Health Promotion from the University of Toronto. Presently, Dr. Hasford's work focuses largely on race equity and systems change in Ontario's child welfare sector, and includes several studies that examine service needs of African Canadian youth and families, and evaluations of equity-focused systems change efforts. This includes research of the Cross-Over Youth Project, a multi-site systems change initiative for youth dually involved in child welfare and youth justice systems. For several years, Dr. Hasford has served as a member and chair of the Provincial Advisory Council for the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies One Vision, One Voice initiative, which seeks to advance race equity through institutional change amongst the province's child welfare agencies. He has also been active in anti-racist child welfare advocacy in his home community of Peel Region, where he serves as co-chair of the Black Community Action Network, which is is leading a multi-sectoral effort to improve outcomes for vulnerable African Canadian families. Prior to joining Ryerson, Dr. Hasford completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship (funded by Canadian Institute for Health Research) that examined the dissemination and implementation of Housing First (a supportive housing intervention for homeless people with mental illness) across seven Canadian cities. He also has over 18 years of direct service experience as a youth worker in residential care and parks and recreation, including over 12 years with the City of Toronto's Community Gardens and Urban Farm program, where his role focused on engaging African Canadian youth in urban agriculture to promote environmental stewardship and employment.