Paper long abstract:

Sponsoring studies of citizens from developing countries at universities in developed countries has been for decades an instrument of official development aid of many 'Western' donors. The recent inclusion of development-oriented international scholarships among the targets of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 further legitimated these traditional schemes and encouraged 'emerging' donors to introduce such programmes. The international scholarship programmes contain a clear migration-development aspect and they can also be considered as an instrument of high skilled-labor and knowledge migration. However, their expected development impacts, most typically grounded in the idea of 'exporting' university knowledge from more to less developed countries, depend on several uncertain parameters. Despite the declared development focus, they may further exacerbate rather than reduce the increasingly unequal distribution of benefits from internationalization of higher education.

The Czech government scholarship programme for university students from developing countries has a long history dating back to the Cold War cooperation of Czechoslovakia within a Soviet-led socialist bloc of countries. In 1990s it became a part of the Czech development cooperation programme and since then it has been fully funded from the Czech official development aid budget. In this paper, we examine the selected programme's development impacts. In particular, we focus on the scholarship beneficiaries from Africa. We acknowledge that development-oriented international scholarships programmes may be conceived from different theoretical perspectives that may lead to different expected outcomes. Therefore, we confront the development outcomes identified for the Czech scholarships programme against these distinct perspectives. We focus on issues such as the return migration after graduation, or transformative power of scholarships with regard to individual's capabilities, among others. Our analysis is based on quantitative and qualitative data collected for the programme's two consecutive external evaluations (2011, 2018). The research covered the period from 2008 to 2017 in which around 1,100 beneficiaries from more than 60 developing countries were financially supported.

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Paper long abstract:

The questions surrounding whether skilled migration is good or bad for emerging nations is the wrong question, as without a doubt some level of migration is beneficial. The emerging and critical questions pertaining to migration and development for emerging nations is, whether such migration would be better off with limited accessibility. The answer to this depends on who is migrating: young or old, highly skilled or lowly skilled persons looking to develop or use their skills and talents, whether or not they return back home and when and how they return. What are the socio-political and development implications of brain-drain on departing nations? Evidence shows that in many emerging nations, migration rates are already above the point of peak benefits; these migrant nations are hemorrhaging their scarce human resources in favor of the West. In Nigeria, programs such as the United Kingdom's 2002 to 2008 Highly Skilled Migrant Program, US lottery and more recently, the Canadian Express Entry Programme for highly skilled persons is draining Nigeria of its relevant human resource; educated Nigerians. This study investigates the impact of highly skilled migration on healthcare in Nigeria by using mixed methods of first and secondary data to assess the following:

(a) who is leaving

(b) where the destination of choice is and

(c) what the impact is for the Nigerian.

The hypothesis is: highly skilled migration from poor to rich nations hinders development for the developing nation. To test this, we analyzed data on health workers from the highly skilled migrant records from 2012 to 2018. It considers the relationship between this migrating demography and the human capital challenge of healthcare. Secondly, we assess the factors prompting mass migration for this class of persons. Lastly, it adds new knowledge to the existing body of work by drawing a meta-narrative on the implication of this medical brain drain on Nigeria's development.

Paper long abstract:

Diaspora transnationals in Ghana have been at the fore front of local knowledge polishing, foreign knowledge acquisition, transformation and circulation from the destination to the origin. The Ghanaian diaspora in Europe and the other parts of the globe in the area of knowledge production has remitted Ghana with modern international knowledge hence putting Ghana on the map in Africa with cutting edge outcome in terms of knowledge transfer.

Ghana as a country in recent time is benefiting from its brain drain especially in the areas of health, education and other skilled labour in the diaspora through transnationalisn anchored with brain gain and brain circulation.

Many Ghanaian experts in knowledge production in the diaspora through transnationalism are now affiliated to local institutions in Ghana or have permanently returned to impact the knowledge they have acquired whiles other the destination to the Ghanaian local economy. These experts involved in the knowledge transfer and circulation from the diaspora through transnationalism might have acquired the knowledge in Ghana and latter polished it up at the current destination or abroad and is currently transfering it home or circulating it through transnational practices.

The health, education and other service sectors in Ghana has benefited from the Ghanaian diaspora communities through transnational practices. For example in the area of education now most Ghanaian schools practice the Montessori system, Ghana has researchers and academics trained in major Universities around the globe working permanently and on contract basis in higher institutions of learning, Ghanaians abroad through transnational practices facilitate collaboration between Ghanaian institutions and other foreign partners for both financial and capacity building support,cheap and affordable but quality health training offered by Ghanaian diaspora based health personnel to their Ghanaian partners and many more.

Notwithstanding these contributions made by the Ghanaian diaspora abroad through transnationalism, remittances from the diaspora though has been hinted by authorities as been spent on conspicuous goods some are channeled into the education, sanitation and the health of families left behind, for instance some Ghanaian diaspora abroad have formed hometown associations as well as old school associations especially in Europe and North America where these hometown associations do help schools with laptops and put up science laboratories to promote studies in information technology and scientific researches.

Paper long abstract:

Amidst a conceivable ambivalence in regards to the relationship between migration and development, there seem to be shift in the debate from 'brain drain' to 'brain gain'. This stems from an observed increase in the flow of cash and social remittances to countries of origin through cash transfers, return migration and transnational linkages with positive multiplier effects. Whilst efforts by national governments in getting African diaspora to contribute to may garnered relative spike in cash and human capital flows in the form of 'brain gain', cash remittances remain a major source of development finance to African. Whilst recent policy initiatives aimed at promoting skilled immigration in some EU countries may further contribute to increasing cash flows to home countries, there are also sustained international efforts at enhancing the seamless transfer of cash in order to effectively manage and tap the development potential of remittances through strategic investments. Despite ongoing efforts and technological developments, cash transfers to home countries in Africa are still beset with existential challenges related to high costs, lack of knowledge on available services and policy at enhancing transfers.

Drawing on in-depth interviews and secondary data sources, this study delves into the question of effective transfer of cash remittances to home countries from the perspectives of Ghanaian diaspora; with a special focus on the Germany-Ghana remittances corridor. The study provides critical insights into challenges in sending and receiving cash remittances from Germany. Based on the findings, the study identifies the crucial role of 'African intellectuals', advocacy, development cooperation, and makes propositions at influencing policy, as well as enhancing the seamless transfer of cash as an important source of development finance in Ghana.

Paper long abstract:

This paper presents an analysis of select Continental and diasporic scholarly networks that draws-in Ghanaian and other African and Africa-descended scholars from the run-up to the attainment of political independence (across the Continent) to the present. The paper adopts an ecosystem model to carry out a spatial analysis of the ties that connect Ghanaian scholars with various layers of the knowledge environment. i.e. the relationship of Ghanaian intellectual diasporas with a reorientation of academic focus relative to how knowledge groups at different spatial levels (microsystem, mesosystem and macrosystem) have shaped academic focus in Africa. While each of the networks that are examined were/are preoccupied with their own scholarly interests and set of issues, they were/are all seized with the African predicament. In the colonial moment, this meant contesting the intellectual justifications of colonial domination. Most of that generation of scholars were part of different and occasionally convergent networks of socially committed intellectuals who were not necessarily in the academy. Made up of anti-colonial fighters, African students in the colonial metropole and diasporic Africans, this group was an important component in organisations that mobilised and fought for independence. Subsequent generations of intellectuals addressed themselves to the African condition depending on the defining issues of their time. A constant preoccupation is the place of Africa in knowledge production. The colonial legacy of extroverted knowledge production in and on Africa continues to define mainstream scholarly work about Africa. It is in this context that the current debate about decolonization takes place. This paper poses a set of questions about the "decolonial turn": it's potentials and pitfalls: Does the present decolonial moment signal a deep cleanse or a tinkering at the edges of knowledge production on Africa? What models of decolonising knowledge production in Africa has the debate thrown up i.e. changes in academic curricula; funding of innovation in academia; setting research agenda; who controls the African narrative?

Keywords: ecosystem model, epistemic community, decolonization, Ghana, knowledge production.

Paper long abstract:

This paper critically examines attempts at regional integration in West Africa and how these attempts are both aided and frustrated by the externalised migration management interests of the European Union. The paper will draw on the example of the EU-Niger agreement to demonstrate how European externalisation policies indirectly contribute to limiting free movement within the West African sub-Region. The paper argues that the EU's bilateral externalisation policy with Niger, manifests in the provision of finance and entrusting the country with the responsibility of policing EU's external territory against movement by fellow ECOWAS citizens, is reminiscent of indirect rule practices under colonial rule in Africa. We show that the receipt of financial assistance from the EU and the attendant quid pro quo obligation on Niger to disrupt the migration journeys of fellow West Africans puts Niger in jeopardy of her regional legal commitments as a signatory to the ECOWAS Free Movement Protocol. In effect, in their attempt to restrict movement to the West, European Union's migration policies towards Africa have further contributed to restricting migration within the African context, thereby serving to undermine the goal of free movement protocols that seek to promote intraregional mobility and socio-economic development in West Africa.

Paper long abstract:

The paper examines the activities of Mental Health Advocacy Ghana a WhatsApp group of mental health professionals, other health professionals passionate about mental health, journalists and consumers of mental health services both in Ghana and in the diaspora. Using Haas' (1992) definition of epistemic community, I explore the parallels between this group and an epistemic community and concludes that it qualifies as an epistemic community. With this understanding, I proceed to explore how the group through its deliberation and actions, is shaping three outcomes: 1) mental health knowledge production; 2) costs and benefits of international knowledge migration and 3) mental health advocacy and practice in Ghana. The intercourse between Ghanaian mental health professional diaspora and mental health professionals in Ghana is sometimes fraught with tensions highlighting the different contexts in which they are embedded. How these tensions impact the above three outcomes are discussed.

Paper long abstract:

Kadozi Edward (PhD), Rwanda Development Board; kadoziedward@gmail.com

Ggombe Kasim Munyegera (PhD), Mazima Research Consultancy; kasimgm@gmail.com

Kabano Ignace (PhD), African Centre of Excellence, University of Rwanda; kabanoignace@gmail.com

The international migration of skilled migrants remains an ever-growing reality. This is accompanied by the existing heated debate about the development impact of skilled migrants (brain gain) in their countries of origin. This paper examines the development impact of skilled migrants in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the period from 1980 to 2019, using a selection of 38 countries from the region. Specifically, the study measures the effect of skilled emigration rate (ratio of the number of highly skilled emigrants from a particular SSA country to an OECD destination to the total labor force of the country of origin) and remittances on real GDP per capita in the migrants' countries of origin. The study further explores whether the development impact of skilled migrants is mediated by the institutional factors in SSA countries. The analytical framework of this study is embedded in the three dominant theoretical and empirical approaches about migration and its outcomes; the new economics of migration (NELM), the endogenous growth approach, and incentive effect. The study uses Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) as the baseline model, complemented by Fixed Effects models to account for country-specific time-invariant characteristics (country heterogeneity). Further analysis will be conducted to address endogeneity issues using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and/or Two-stage least Squares (2SLS) methods. The main findings reveal that three theoretical approaches complementary in explaining the development impact of brain gain. The FE results reveal that, while overall emigration (including low-skilled and medium-skilled migrants) does not positively impact real GDP per capital, disaggregated analysis shows a positive and statistically significant impact of highly-skilled migrants in the region. Preliminary results further reveal that the effect of skilled migration and remittances is mediated by institutional factors - particularly regulatory quality - in the countries of origin. The findings suggest that the quality of the institutional framework and skill level are significantly imperative for enhancing the development impact of skilled emigrants in the region.

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Paper short abstract:

The importance of transnational activities between the African Diaspora and the continent has become an increasing source of knowledge and investment capital to galvanise development within Africa. This has led governments to develop policies to encourage the return of the Diasporas.

Paper long abstract:

Leveraging The potentials of African Diasporas in Ghana: The role of transnational activities.

The importance of transnational activities by African Diasporas to the home countries cannot be overlooked because, it serves as the engine that catalyses economic development in most of these countries. In the world of competitive industrialization and technological advancement, transfer of knowledge, skills and capital investment is critical for socio-economic development of origin countries. African Diasporas contribute to local economies through transnational activities which are indicated in the form of innovation, skills, training, experiences, remittances and capital investment injected in the local economies. The benefits gained from the transnational activities of the African Diasporas to the home countries have led governments in many home countries to strengthen their socio-economic structures and developed policies and programs to encourage the return of the Diasporas.

The paper focuses on the potentials of African diasporas, their role in transnational activities towards the socio-economic development of the home countries and is divided into six sections. The first section reviews literature on the diaspora in general, including African and Ghanaian diasporas and theoretical framework. The second section explains the methodology used in this paper. The third section discusses the role of Ghanaian government in attracting African diasporas investment and participation in the country's socio-economic development. The fourth section examines the benefits from transnational activities. The fifth section examines African Diasporas contributions to Ghana's socio-economic development. The final section provides conclusion.

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Paper long abstract:

The effects of international skills migration on the developing countries has received a significant attention in the literature on migration and development. The focus of the debate on brain drain, brain gain, or circulation pits the pessimistic and optimistic viewpoints and subsequent skilled migration policies. International skills migration is simultaneously driven by shifting labour market conditions and skills requirements in the sending and receiving countries as well as individual pursuit of advanced training, better position in the labour market and improved income. For most countries in Africa, international skills migration is a complex reality whose consequences and manifestations point to a mixture of outcomes. International skills migration from Africa to Europe is highly regulated and largely characterized by education-migration, skilled and semi-skilled persons seeking greener pastures, relocation of professionals and employees of multinational companies as well as the diasporas generated through family formation and reunion (first, second and third generations). All these forms of mobility have a remittance (social, material and financial) dimensions with spatial and place-based impact that includes migrants with multiple layers of belonging. The intensity and complex linkages that migrants have with both the country of residence and origin as well as the increased digitalisation of education and the labour market therefore calls for re-thinking the challenges and potentials of international skills migration beyond brain drain/gain in academic debate and policy prescriptions. This paper contributes to the skills mobility debate by examining the role of in-between spaces, increased work between places through digital platforms or tele-migration and likely skills transfer or deployment within contemporary international skills migration. Drawing on existing literature, the paper presents some reflections on international skills migration by looking at migration of ideas (education-migration and productivity), notions of quality and what kind of skills-reorientation might be applicable in the context of increased digitalisation of the work place/space and labour market conditions (tele-migration) in Africa and Europe.

Paper long abstract:

Migration and development policy debate on international skills migration has largely been framed around migrants in the skills and semi-skilled categories and how they fit the labour market needs in the countries of destination. Missing in this debate is the role of diasporas, knowledge, skills and experiences. Diasporas are composed of individuals and groups characterized by a mixture of pre and post migration qualifications, skills and experiences. This is demonstrated by diasporas that function as entrepreneurs, expats, lecturers, students, politicians and adventurers. Those that have migrated for the purpose of family reunification have also gained experiences in diverse fields with they share and transfer through networks. While the link between diasporas and skills transfers has been framed within the debates and police initiatives about (voluntary) return and circular migration, diasporas also contribute to development in the countries of origin and residence through transnational practices that span single nation-state borders. In the case of African diasporas, their continued affinity and strong attachment to locations or origin, communities and commitment to next of kin left behind, inform a sustained voluntary transnational engagement whose outcomes are felt at different levels but hardly captured in the international skills migration debate. This paper is based on findings from a study involving 12 Kenyan diasporas in the Netherlands who participated in a project that sought to facilitate the transfer of skills and exchange of experiences to various sectors and institutions in Kenya and the Netherlands. We demonstrate that diasporas fit within the knowledge migration paradigm even though most of their transnational practices take place outside formal policy frameworks, are self-and/or collective interest-driven and voluntary in nature. These exchanges take place physically and virtual through digital platforms underpinned by increased access to information technology. We argue that diaspora transnational practices constitute an important conduit of knowledge for the labour market conditions in the countries of residence and origin in the context of changing global labour needs and knowledge-based economies. For Africa, diaspora practices plug the marginalized groups and parts of the global south with the north through the exchange of knowledge and experiences.

Paper long abstract:

There have been intense efforts at associating Africa's developmental aspirations with its diaspora and many have described it as a goldmine that has continued to produce results in flows and trickles. The African Union has considered the diaspora as 'a force for African development' and has since invested a significant amount of efforts, time and all manner of resources to connect with its diaspora. These efforts have further pressured several African countries to engage their diaspora through strategic policies with the intent of courting their commitments for the development of their countries of origin. Thus far, the concentration of the engagement has been largely with Africa's Diaspora community outside the African continent. Given that intra-African migration is known to be higher than across the continent, a key question that arises is to what extent has the engagement policies incorporated the knowledge (academic literature, experiences, aspirations, deliberations, ideas, opinions, perceptions, and views) of the African Diaspora within Africa in the engagement process.

This paper takes a critical look at the literature on African Diaspora within Africa vis-à-vis Diaspora Engagement Policies (DEPs) of selected African countries and assesses the contributions they make to their countries of origin and the extent to which they were engaged in development of their respective policies. It empirically explores from a cross section of respondents from these countries the expanse of their knowledge and how same could be harnessed and factored in the discourse and development of the engagement policies. Further, it dwells on its preliminary findings to support the argument that the best desired outcomes in the narrative would only be achieved through incorporation of their agency in African Diaspora affairs, greater understanding and use of the knowledge they possess across different fields and effective partnership in the design of goals, objectives and strategies for the development of Africa.