Hand of a person holding a passport.
12/18/2023

Migration: an experience that can improve with technological support

Montevideo, December 18, 2023.

Sofis Solutions has promoted several technological solutions for migrants.

Migration flows are increasing worldwide. In 2022 alone, around 34.6 million people migrated from their countries, many of them forcibly, becoming part of refugee groups.

Migration is a social phenomenon that occurs globally for various reasons, such as seeking better economic opportunities or improved career prospects. However, migration is not always voluntary; conflicts and insecurity often push people to leave their countries in pursuit of a better quality of life.

December 18 marks International Migrants Day, a date proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness about the efforts of those who leave their homes every day for a better future—the migrants.

Sofis Solutions, a company committed to the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—which aim to guarantee human rights such as safety, work, equality, and education—has worked on several projects related to migration. Technology can have a highly positive impact on the migration experience, primarily by improving access to information.

Some of the projects developed by Sofis Solutions in Latin America that improve the migration experience include the following:

El Salvador: Portal for the Labor Market Information System

Access to employment is one of the main challenges for those who decide to migrate. For this reason, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare of El Salvador, and the International Labour Organization (ILO) designed the Labor Market Information System of El Salvador (SIMEL).

The digital tool, developed by Sofis Solutions, assists in creating information, storing data, and disseminating news about the labor market in the country. It also provides access to labor migration indicators and data, which helps identify situations and develop strategies and public policies to improve conditions.

Ecuador: Creadoras, an e-commerce platform for female entrepreneurs

In line with improving access to the labor market, Sofis Solutions worked in Ecuador with UN Women on a project designed for female entrepreneurs, many of whom are migrants or refugees.

UN Women works in the country, a major recipient of migrants and refugees, to provide protection and support for economic development. In this context, the organization launched Buy For Women, an initiative of the Caminando program aimed at providing tools to improve women’s economic opportunities. Around this initiative, Creadoras was created—a digital platform where entrepreneurs can market their products and services while sharing their stories and expanding their customer and supplier networks.

Mexico: Refugee Information System (SIRE)

Sofis Solutions also worked on a project related to forced migration. According to the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR), nearly 250,000 people in recent years were affected by forced migration and sought asylum as refugees in Mexico.

Migration involves numerous procedures, and public system processing times often do not match the urgency of those seeking refuge. For this reason, the Refugee Information System was created—a digital platform designed to register data, process asylum requests, and expedite response times.

The platform, developed by Sofis, has enabled better management of registration times and has provided the Mexican government with real-time information on the refugee situation, aiding decision-making, such as when developing public policies.

Sofis Solutions experiences

Several members of the Sofis Solutions team have experienced migration firsthand, gaining valuable perspectives and insights.

Rocío Esquivel, an IT analyst, is Mexican and migrated ten years ago. She first moved to Argentina and later to Uruguay.

She describes her experience as “cultural integration”, noting that although Uruguay "has very distinct traditions and customs, it has shown openness to receive and integrate migrants from different parts of the world, which is uncommon". Rocío highlights the Uruguayan capacity for acceptance and inclusion. "I have a multicultural family—me, Mexican; my husband, Argentine; our children, Uruguayan—and this has allowed us as a family to preserve and learn the traditions and customs of each member, which is always enriching", she said.

Pedro Arriondo migrated to Uruguay from Paraná, Argentina, in 2021, seeking a better future for his 3-year-old daughter, Emma.

"Montevideo welcomed us with the warmth of its people, making the uprooting experience less impactful. Although we are less than 700 km from our city of origin, one leaves family, friends, and an entire history behind. At first, coming from a small city, we felt overwhelmed by so much movement, as everything seemed distant and large. But the geographic proximity gradually showed us that we shared several terms and customs, like 'gurí' and mate as an inseparable companion."

Today we are very happy. We are making friends along the way and gradually getting used to the harsh southern winter," he added.

Aura Peralta, a member of the Administration team, went through a similar process, which she described as "condensing your life into a suitcase". She migrated from Venezuela to Colombia and later moved to Uruguay.

For her, technology was extremely helpful in the process, initially to research the place where she would live, and also to expedite migration procedures with tools like migración.uy, which allowed her to obtain identification quickly, among other benefits.

Access to information enabled by technological advances today also allows constant monitoring of migration situations and calls for continuous improvement by public and private organizations.

Migration is a social issue that involves everyone—states, organizations, and companies—and in times of large population movements, technological development is a fundamental ally.

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