Leir Migration Monitor: New Approaches to Refugee Governance and Disaster Preparedness
Goma is threatened by conflict and a volcano: we’ve created a handbook to help hotspots like these
Article for the February 17th, 2025 edition of The Conversation by Feinstein Senior Researcher and Leir's Senior Fellow Dr. Evan Easton-Calabria.
The city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo was overtaken by rebels in January 2025. The city is also just 12 miles (19 km) from Mount Nyiragongo, one of the most dangerous active volcanoes in the world.
Goma illustrates how millions of people in fragile, violent, and conflict-affected parts of the world are at risk of both human-made and natural disasters. When these disasters interact, they can multiply and increase negative impacts.
Situations like those in the DRC inspired a new UN handbook to enhance disaster preparedness and action in fragile, conflict-affected, and violent contexts.
In her article for The Conversation, Feinstein Senior Researcher and Leir's Senior Fellow Dr. Evan Easton-Calabria shares learnings from her work as the lead drafter of the new UN handbook.
Early warning systems — and the early action they enable — can address the intersecting vulnerabilities that arise from conflict and climate impacts, minimizing suffering in some of the world’s most complex environments.
Read more of Evan Easton-Calabria's article here:
Evan Easton-Calabria
Refugee Governance in the Arab World
In this issue of Leir Migration Monitor, Leir-affiliated faculty Tamirace Fakhoury shares her most recent publication.
Together with Dawn Chatty of the University of Oxford, Professor Fakhoury edited Refugee Governance in the Arab World, a research anthology published by I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury in January 2025. The anthology is open access, with funding provided by Sciences Po, Paris, where she served as the visiting Kuwait Chair.
The book is an edited anthology on refugee governance in the Arab world, challenging the Western-centric view that Arab states have been mere bystanders in shaping refugee policies. While much research focuses on Western states, this work highlights the Arab world’s role in shaping the post-1945 international refugee regime and refugee norms, despite limited participation in the 1951 Refugee Convention. It builds on scholars' call for a multiplex and relational perspective of global governance, emphasizing that the international system is not a monolithic structure but a dynamic web of intersecting influences and histories.
It is also available as hardcover edition. Professor Fakhoury is currently planning a book talk at the Fletcher School's, Ginn Library in September 2025.
Find the open access to the research anthology here.
Spotlight: Marcela Millán, F05
Marcela Prieto-Millán joined the Leir Institute in January 2024. She holds a Master’s degree in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, specializing in Comparative and Developmental Political Analysis and Development Economics. During her time at Fletcher, Marcela’s research focused on migration and remittances, particularly issues related to Colombia. She presented her capstone, Impact of Remittances on Colombia, at Harvard’s Colombian Migration Conference.
After Fletcher, she worked with the late Adjunct Lecturer Lawrence Harrison at Fletcher’s Cultural Change Institute. Marcela recently returned to the Boston area after 15 years in Hong Kong, where she founded two businesses, served in leadership roles on several nonprofit boards, co-led the Fletcher School's Hong Kong Alumni Club, and raised her two children. Launching her own clothing line in Hong Kong gave her firsthand access to the daily realities of Chinese migrant workers. With her garments manufactured in Shenzhen, China, she had the opportunity to work alongside these workers, deepening her understanding of one of the largest human migrations in history.
Current Role: Associate Director, Henry J. Leir Institute for Migration and Human Security
I am working on: Keeping Leir's mission and projects in motion. The Leir Institute is committed to advancing migration research and policy by connecting migration experts with specialists in its root causes, training current and future policymakers in human security approaches, and partnering with local NGOs and governments to build capacity and produce applied research.
On the training front, we continuously develop Leir Seminars and expand summer experiential learning opportunities for Fletcher students focusing on migration studies. Each semester, we host multiple Leir Talks @ Fletcher and Leir Book Talks, typically organizing 5–7 events with the support of our research assistants and staff.
Through our weekly, monthly, and semesterly newsletters, we work to connect the Fletcher community, practitioners, and policymakers with analysis and research from Leir’s people and programs. We also partner with local NGOs and government agencies through our research projects.
I invite you to explore Leir’s six current research projects here.
An insight I’ve discovered: One of the most rewarding insights I’ve discovered is that the Fletcher School’s alumni network is alive and thriving! At Leir, we bring our mission to life by training current and future policymakers and practitioners—equipping them with human security expertise and adaptive leadership skills for careers in government, international organizations, humanitarian assistance, and civic advocacy.
As part of this goal, Leir provides experiential learning opportunities for Fletcher students, including grant allocations to support unpaid summer internships and research projects. With the support of an alumni donor, Leir sponsored several Fletcher students over the past two summers in programs such as the Cristosal Global School for Human Rights in Honduras. Additionally, we awarded summer research and internship grants to current students.
Our Summer 2024 research grant recipient, Samuel Rogers, shared the profound impact of Leir’s support:
"I spent an extremely informative week in London accessing primary sources which provided essential human perspective, from diaries and memoirs to a subject which is often reduced to numbers and figures. I am grateful to the Leir Institute for providing me with the opportunity to learn and grow as a scholar."
Now more than ever, your support can make a tangible difference—allowing students to fully immerse themselves in learning, collaboration, and professional growth without the burden of financial obstacles. Our mission—to connect, train, and partner—is fueled by the power of your generosity, which enables us to expand our impact and drive meaningful change in the field of migration and its root causes. Please consider making a donation to Leir today.
I’m passionate about: Leir’s motto, “envisioning a world where migration is a choice,” resonates deeply with me. Our commitment to seeking equitable and sustainable approaches to migration and its root causes fuels everything we do.
As a Fletcher alum and now part of the Leir team, I’ve had the privilege of putting our alumni ethos into action through Leir’s impactful work. I believe that maximizing career-building, experiential learning, and research opportunities for the next generation of migration professionals is key to bringing us closer to the world we envision.