The Challenge

The Aurora Prize is a human rights organisation which promotes and recognises humanitarian work with refugees and displaced persons.

For three years, the organisation has worked with Edelman Intelligence (EI) to create the annual Aurora Human Rights index, which tracks international attitudes to refugees. 

The goal is to highlight the gulf between perceptions of refugees and the reality. Most studies concentrate on the economic and long-term social impact of refugees. Very few look at the attitudes of the public in receiving countries. 

This created an opportunity for Aurora to focus on the human element of humanitarian crises, investigating the general public’s attitudes on the responsibility, and effectiveness of humanitarian intervention.

The Strategy

We conducted research with members of the public in twelve markets worldwide: France, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Argentina, Japan, Armenia, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Kenya and Lebanon.

As well as capturing public attitudes — and throwing a light on the gulf between perceptions and reality — the 2018 work had a strong thought-leadership element.

It explored possible solutions to the refugee crisis and informed the vital work of NGOs and grassroots organisations.

In a London live event that included a panel discussion led by Jane Corbin, journalist and film-maker, Aurora presented the findings of the survey to media, government and third-sector professionals.

The Outcome

The event and report received in-depth coverage in a number of top tier media publications such as Reuters, The Guardian, The Independent, USA Today, The Boston Globe and Yahoo.

Aurora will continue to present the survey findings to relevant media professionals, supported by EI to continue driving awareness of the work.