Cairo – Living Together, a clickfunding campaign in Egypt launched by IOM, the UN Migration Agency, to promote community cohesion among migrants and the Egyptian communities hosting them has gone viral.

Aiming to use innovative solutions to foster values of diversity, coexistence and community cohesion, IOM Egypt partnered with Egyptian Startup Bassita, UNAOC Innovation Award Safarni, Drosos, and the French Institute in Egypt to launch its campaign, featuring Egyptian star Boshra. Children of migrants and host communities are of special concern. 

The campaign went viral within the first three days following its launch reaching 176,000 views, 16,000 likes, 3,000 shares and 2,000 comments across various social media platforms, which makes it among the top organically viral campaigns ever released by IOM in any country, and the most engaging campaign. It has also received endorsements from numerous public figures in Egyptian society. In just one week, the campaign managed to achieve almost half of its funding target.

Developed by Bassita, the campaign uses click-funding to capitalize on viral posts in social media in order to crowdsource. Clickfunding gives viewers the chance to contribute to fundraising for social initiatives through “the click of a mouse or tap of a screen.” The objective of the campaign is to gather 1 million points. For every point earned, 1 EGP will be given to Safarni – an initiative designed to take children on an imaginary journey to a new country, through simulated travel experiences and intercultural workshops, where they meet children from other cultural backgrounds and are introduced to the local language, food, games, dances and songs – to further promote cultural diversity and contribute to enhancing community cohesion.

“IOM is pleased to support the Clickfunding campaign for Safarni; an initiative that will contribute to IOM Egypt’s ongoing efforts to foster community cohesion and promote cultural diversity between migrants and the Egyptian communities hosting them,” said IOM Egypt Chief of Mission Laurent De Boeck. 

Relying on recent research on tackling the root causes of discrimination and prejudice, the workshops provided by Safarni to Egyptian and migrant children in Cairo’s Ard El Lewa district endeavor to humanize diversity and support communities in their efforts to become more inclusive and better integrated.

“After the success of the first IOM campaign A Day Without Migrants, it was important to continue to promote community cohesion between migrants and Egyptians,” stated Alban de Ménonville, Co-Founder of Clickfunding. “This second campaign will deeply impact the lives of children living in Ard El Lewa, by allowing them a positive platform to connect with cultures from around the world.”

The Living Together campaign falls under the framework of the EU-funded Regional Development and Protection Programme for North Africa (RDPP NA), and supports the achievement of the following UN Sustainable Development Goals: Quality Education, Reduced Inequalities and Partnerships for the Goals.

For more information about the campaign please contact Laurent De Boeck, Tel: +202 2736 51 40/41, Email: iomegypt@iom.int.