a blog post about a co-design workshop where refugees came together with UNHCR to share their perspectives on how to run video game events for displaced people — and to create innovative game controllers
This client work was performed for UNHCR Innovation Services, where I was the Consultant for Refugee Engagement with Video Games for two years.
In September, we met with a small, diverse group of refugees in Helsinki to co-design elements of what we’re calling “RefJam” — a game-making event for people forced to flee. Research with manypopulations suggests that game jams can be valuable spaces for learning and self-expression, empowering those who take part. We believe that providing refugees with support and mentorship for learning activities related to digital livelihoods in a jam context could have an immensely positive impact. This first co-design event aimed to test those assumptions.
Dr. Jess Rowan Marcotte and Petar Dimitrov, “Co-creating the future of refugee gaming”
