{"id":70855,"date":"2020-11-04T10:17:50","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T15:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=70855"},"modified":"2025-10-17T16:31:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T20:31:33","slug":"political-science-oxfam-in-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/political-science-oxfam-in-lebanon\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton Political Science Course Partners with Oxfam in Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton Political Science Course Partners with Oxfam in Lebanon\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Students enrolled in Carleton University\u2019s third-year migration governance course get to partake in a unique partnership with Oxfam in Lebanon<\/a> where they will provide recommendations that could influence Lebanon\u2019s international refugee policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLebanon ranks first worldwide in hosting the largest number of refugees in relation to its national population,\u201d says Ola El-Taliawi<\/a>, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Political Science<\/a>, who is teaching the course and organized the collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ola
Ola El-Taliawi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite being one of the largest refugee-hosting countries in the world, no legal framework exists to govern refugee affairs. This places refugees in especially precarious situations, El-Taliawi explains.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cGiven the multiple crises the country has been undergoing, including COVID-19, economic collapse and currency devaluation, refugee populations are particularly vulnerable,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The political science course introduces students to topics including the politics of human mobility, migration and attempts by states and other actors to influence migration and mobility. The course also explores emerging types of migration governance at the national, regional and global levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students will apply what they learned in the classroom by writing a policy brief related to refugees and forced migrants on topics that have been identified by Oxfam in Lebanon as needing research and policy recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe top-scored briefs will be shared with the head of Oxfam in Lebanon’s policy division to inform their policy analysis,\u201d says El-Taliawi.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

El-Taliawi says the idea for the partnership emerged under the umbrella of the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network<\/a>, a team of Carleton researchers and practitioners that are committed to promoting protection and solutions with and for refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students will benefit from the exercise by first learning about the context of forced migration in one of the key host countries in the world. They will also learn how to write policy briefs and address policy problems in a practical manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students have also been given a video lecture on policy brief writing, which is expected to help them in their careers at large, as many have expressed their interest in working in government and international organizations. They have also been welcomed and introduced to the exercise by Oxfam in Lebanon\u2019s policy lead in a recorded video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe use of their briefs will help them understand the notion of impact, where they don\u2019t just engage with theories, but their learning experience can also have real-world and policy impact,\u201d says El-Taliawi.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Carleton<\/figure>\n\n\n

Experiential Learning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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El-Taliawi is looking forward to facilitating experiential learning amid the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and says her students have expressed special interest in the exercise. In an ice-breaking exercise at the start of the term, students shared their thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI cannot wait to write the policy brief since it is regarding my country of ethnic origin!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI like the fact that there are more applied aspects of learning such as the policy brief etc., and I think the course would provide me with useful knowledge that will follow me wherever I go whether professionally or in academia.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cBy the end of this class, I hope to learn how to write a compelling policy brief and to think more critically about different topics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTeaching at this time needs to be compassionate but also engaging to ensure students remain interactive,\u201d says El-Taliawi. \u201cNothing can resemble the same college experience, but if I feel that I could do my part to make this as close as possible, I would be more than happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Carleton<\/figure>\n\n\n

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Students enrolled in Carleton University\u2019s third-year migration governance course get to partake in a unique partnership with Oxfam in Lebanon where they will provide recommendations that could influence Lebanon\u2019s international refugee policy. \u201cLebanon ranks first worldwide in hosting the largest number of refugees in relation to its national population,\u201d says Ola El-Taliawi, a postdoctoral fellow in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":70860,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[28,1592],"cu_story_tag":[1921],"class_list":["post-70855","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-community-partnerships","cu_story_type-teaching-learning","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-public-and-global-affairs"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/70855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/70855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98132,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/70855\/revisions\/98132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=70855"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=70855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}