Make intra-African migration a safe, orderly, productive process

Source: Daily Nation, 21/05/2019

In Summary
• A substantial number of migrants is not necessarily a bad thing:
Intra-African migration fosters economic connections between rural and
urban areas and among regional neighbours.
• African migration flows are not as large as some politicians claim
but could increase as the effects of climate change intensify.
• Climate change contributes both to extreme events and chronic
emergencies.

BETTER-EDUCATED
Nothing could be further from the truth: There is no mass exodus from
Africa.
In 2017, more than half of the world’s migrants originated from just
21 countries. The top four were India (6.4 per cent), Mexico (five per
cent), Russia (4.1 per cent) and China (3.9 per cent). The African
country with the largest share of migrants, Egypt, was 19th.
Africa accounts for only 14 per cent of migrant flows, most of them
confined to it. Recent reports â€` by the International Organization for
Migration and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development,
among others â€` show around 70 per cent of Sub-Saharan African migrants
remain on the continent, mostly within East and West Africa (18.5 per
cent and 16.7 per cent, respectively). Almost half (46 per cent) of
all intraregional African migrants are female.
The West thus faces little risk of a massive wave of African migrants.
And a substantial number of migrants is not necessarily a bad thing:
Intra-African migration fosters economic connections between rural and
urban areas and among regional neighbours.
A 2018 Afrobarometer survey of 34 African countries shows younger,
better-educated urbanites are more likely to consider emigrating than
their older, less-educated rural counterparts. They are often
motivated by the desire to find a job (43 per cent) or to escape
economic hardship (33 per cent).
Tapping these migrants’ potential, and ensuring that intra-African
migration is a safe, orderly and productive process, will require
African governments to create better frameworks for managing it.
Beyond collecting and sharing data, international institutions can
share knowledge and best practices with governments, as the Migration
Dialogue in West Africa has done. African governments should increase
their contributions to such initiatives, so far funded by Western donors.
FINANCIAL FLOWS
Technology can also help. The non-profit Techfugees, for example, is
already working to coordinate the tech industry’s response to the
refugee challenge, spurring the development of solutions “for and with
displaced people”. Existing projects include Migreat, which helps
refugees to navigate the asylum application process, and GeeCycle,
focused on recycling and donating mobile phones to refugees.
Keeping migrants safe requires governments and media to set the record
straight. In South Africa, for example, anti-immigrant rhetoric has
recently fuelled xenophobic attacks on Malawians and Zimbabweans.
African migration flows are not as large as some politicians claim but
could increase as the effects of climate change intensify. Climate
change contributes both to extreme events and chronic emergencies.
Migrants’ home countries also have a role to play. Migration
represents a brain drain within Africa â€` given that most young African
migrants are educated, their departure undermines development in the
countries that need it most, while fuelling growth in host countries
by filling labour gaps, boosting consumption and expanding the tax base.
Migrants do send back remittances â€` one of the largest sources of
financial flows to developing countries â€` but this money is used
mainly to supplement consumption for recipient families rather than to
finance productive investments. That is why home-country governments
should generate quality jobs to entice youth to stay home.
DEVELOP SKILLS
Entrepreneurship has been hailed as the solution to Africa’s jobs
problem. But it requires concerted action from governments. For
example, to address the mismatch between the skills companies seek and
those the youth possess, governments should invest in science,
technology, engineering, and math (Stem) education and vocational
training. They should work with the private sector to improve the
business environment.
They should also capitalise on the dynamism of the large informal
sector, which employs 75-90 per cent of Africans. Formalising
agriculture, agro-processing and small-scale manufacturing and service
enterprises will require governments to provide infrastructure, public
services and access to credit.
At the recent Now Generation Forum in Abidjan, debates among youth
delegates made clear that African young people will no longer
passively await a better future. They are doing everything in their
power not just to develop their skills and find quality jobs but also
to bring about political change â€` as just occurred in Algeria and Sudan.