Episode 5: Children on the move in West and Central Africa - Context, vulnerabilities, and protection needs

Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, with me your host Loksan Harley. Today I have Amanda Azzali on the show to talk about children on the move (or child migration). Amanda is the Children on the Move Regional Advisor for West and Central Africa at Save the Children International, so she's really THE person to talk to on the topic. A few words about Amanda. She first studied pedagogy with a specialisation in The Reggio Emillia Approach, before going on to study International Relations and International Development. She then worked as part of a number of humanitarian crisis responses in the Middle East, Darfur, Uganda, and the Sahel, while also working in academia. She has been based in the beautiful city of Dakar, Senegal since 2009. As keen listeners of the podcast know, I've been trying my hardest to get a diversity of guests on the show to discuss a diversity of topics. So this is a first episode on children-on-the-move and a first that focuses on West and Central Africa - a region I know well from my work. There are some linkages with episode 3 on trafficking in persons so I recommending giving that a listen too. Amanda and I discuss a range of aspects of child migration in West and Central Africa, including the context of mixed migration flows against which child migration takes place, as well as why children move, how they move, the risks that they are exposed to, the impact of COVID-19, and how to provide protection, including what Save the Children are doing. And of course, we also touch on Amanda's own fascinating migration story, from her Italian-Mozambique background to her migration experiences across Europe and Africa, which have no doubt informed her understanding of migration. As always, thank you so much for listening and I hope you enjoy the show. Useful links Save the Children and the Mixed Migration Centre's publication, Young and on the Move in West Africa: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/young-and-move-west-africa Connect via LInkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-azzali-b51a7622/ Save the Children Senegal: https://senegal.savethechildren.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/savechildrenSN