Case Study Details - The EDISON Alliance - Iowara, Papua New Guinea: The Digital Worlds of West Papuan Refugees

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a diverse lower middle-income country that faces several humanitarian challenges, including economic insecurity, political tensions and high risk of climate hazards. As of August 2022, UNHCR estimated there were 11,800 refugees and asylum seekers in PNG, largely from West Papua, Indonesia. The research site, Iowara, Western Province, is a refugee settlement consisting of 10 villages. It is home to approximately 2,500– 3,000 West Papuan asylum seekers and refugee living alongside a host community of around 200 people. Mobile phones play an important social function, helping people in Iowara keep in contact with family and friends, and lifesaving information. This case study is part of a larger research study conducted in partnership with UNHCR that explored how people in humanitarian contexts use and relate to their mobile phones.

Impact / Outcome

While digital development in Iowara is still nascent and users’ digital worlds are relatively small, mobile technology presents significant opportunities. To fully realise these opportunities, significant work needs to be done, both with users directly to develop digital literacy, as well as on the structural side to increase connectivity infrastructure in the region and tackle social and economic barriers to mobile phone ownership and use.

Key Metrics

Refugees and asylum seekers people accessing and using mobile phones who face several humanitarian challenges