Introduction to the Data for Refugees Challenge on Mobility of Syrian Refugees in Turkey

Abstract

The Data for Refugees (D4R) Challenge was a nonprofit challenge initiated to improve the conditions of the Syrian refugees in Turkey by providing a special database to scientific community for enabling research on urgent problems concerning refugees, including health, education, unemployment, safety, and social integration. The collected database was based on anonymized mobile Call Detail Record (CDR) of phone calls and SMS messages of Türk Telekom customers. It indicated broad activity and mobility patterns of refugees and citizens in Turkey for 1 year. The data collection period was from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017. The project was initiated by Türk Telekom, in partnership with the Turkish Academic and Research Council (TÜBİTAK) and Boğaziçi University, and in collaboration with several academic and nongovernmental organizations, including UNHCR Turkey, UNICEF, and International Organization for Migration. This chapter describes the Challenge in detail, providing a history of its evolution, as well as a description of the data shared with the participants of the Challenge.