Nora Magdalena Diethelm (Master in International and Development Studies - MINT) wins the Global Migration Award for her master dissertation entitled: “Rightful Voices Refugee Participation in Humanitarian Programming: the Example of CARE International in the Azraq Camp". Congratulations!
Biography
Nora Diethelm is a Swiss national with a master’s degree in International and Development Studies from the Geneva Graduate Institute, where she specialized in humanitarianism and refugee issues. She has worked extensively with various NGOs supporting refugees in Switzerland and in humanitarian settings abroad. Her experience spans from improving refugees' access to education in Switzerland to engaging in short-term assignments in refugee camps in Greece and Jordan, where she focused on community engagement and refugee participation in humanitarian programming. Passionate about fostering local perspectives in humanitarian work, she aims to continue advocating for more inclusive and effective humanitarianism responses. She is now preparing to further deepen her understanding of local approaches to humanitarianism in Kenya.
Thesis
Refugee camps worldwide host approximately 6.6 million refugees. While they are envisioned as temporary solutions, many have become semi-permanent cities. Camp residents largely lack basic autonomy. Beyond respecting their rights and dignity, meaningful refugee participation enhances the effectiveness, legitimacy, and sustainability of humanitarian assistance. In her thesis, Nora Diethelm identifies the drivers and constraints of refugee participation in humanitarian programming and examines CARE’s mechanisms in the Azraq camp to facilitate such participation. While there are few compelling incentives for organizations to implement participation, numerous constraints, including legal restrictions and structural issues in the sector, hinder refugees' influence on humanitarian activities.
You can access the publication here.
The Global Migration Award has been created by the Global Migration Center to promote innovative and high quality research on global migration. The prize rewards a Master student of the Graduate Institute for her/his outstanding thesis in the field of global migration (including mobility, forced or voluntary migration, transnational or internal displacement, citizenship, diaspora and the many other issues linked to the movement of persons). It is delivered each year on a competitive basis following a peer review process, and is open to any Master students of the Graduate Institute regardless of their specialization.
The next call for applicants is Autumn 2025.