The idea that migration is closely linked to development has long been pervasive on the African continent.
The main reason for this is that migrants – those travelling from rural to urban areas, as well as across borders – send home remittances. This money helps to pay for houses, school fees, hospital visits, weddings and funerals, to name just a few of its uses.
Scholars and policy makers acknowledge that remittances vastly outweigh development assistance. Take one example: in Senegal, remittances made up just over 10% of GDP in 2017, and overseas development assistance just over 4%.
Remittances represent over 20% of GDP in some African countries.
On paper, African countries seem in favour of migration linked to development outcomes. An example is the African Union Agenda 2063, which sees labour mobility as a pathway to development. But translating these policies to reality is where the challenge arises.
For example, only 33 countries have signed and merely four have ratified the African Union Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment.
In a recent study, we set out to understand this contradiction. The paper was based on discussions with 20 interview partners, including academics, policy advisors, consultants, civil servants, civil society advocates, a legislator and representatives from the African Union (AU).
Our purpose was to explore, identify and understand African migration norms. Norms are shared behavioural expectations guiding actions within specific contexts. They can be written down in laws and policies or be unwritten.
After reviewing policy documents and academic literature, and looking at some of our previous work, we came up with eight statements to capture the expectations around African migration. One of these statements is that “migration is essential for development”.
In this piece we outline the prevalence of the idea in policies and in what migration experts say. While most of the experts we spoke with identified “migration and development” as an African norm, there were tensions about what this meant for different people – the migrants, the host communities, governments and other actors.
These differing expectations hinder development through migration and put policy objectives out of reach.
We highlight how development is understood, before turning to three barriers in its way: strict visa rules, resistance to accepting migrants into communities, and Europe’s aversion to migration from Africa.
Beyond economic benefits
The connections between migration and development are integral to the growth of African societies and livelihoods.
Many people on the continent see migration as a livelihood strategy, bringing in remittances at the household level, as well as contributing funds towards development projects.
The experts we interviewed broadly agreed. In addition, they saw migration offering more than economic benefits. It can result in investments and knowledge transfers into the health and education sectors, for example.
Social and political remittances can also influence personal and state development.
While over 80% of the people we spoke to agreed that the migration-development link was important, only half thought this held true for policymakers on the continent.
This is because the link between migration and development is not so straightforward. Development is complex, and can’t happen through one approach only. The relationship is also affected by issues like global power imbalances or corruption.
Beyond this, we found three specific barriers to achieving development through migration:
-
restricted mobility within Africa
-
community level resistance
-
European politicians’ preference for approaching development as a means of stopping migration to Europe.
Mobility
At a continental level, several policies have been developed to make mobility easier. Yet countries lag behind in adopting their own laws to put the policies into practice.
And though African states often talk in favour of migration, this does not always translate into opportunities for it to happen.
Some governments would like to prevent younger, highly educated citizens from emigrating. This brain drain means a loss of productivity, creativity and highly skilled labour.
Some countries also have strict visa rules applying to other African citizens – South Africa and Egypt, for example. The rules are often justified as a measure to counteract competition for jobs from incoming migrants.
There has been some progress. According to the 2023 Africa Visa Openness Report, the proportion of intra-Africa travel needing a visa prior to departure fell to 46% in 2022, down from 55% in 2016.
Despite these improvements, the reality is that travel is still difficult for many African migrants even within the continent. State agencies create numerous obstacles. For example, Kenya’s introduction of an Electronic Travel Authorisation for all travellers reversed previous visa exemptions for Djibouti and Ethiopia.
Community level resistance
It’s widely agreed that mobility is linked to economic prosperity (and in turn development). But this does not always mean migrants are welcomed in a community.
Some political leaders are able to spot the development potential that migrants and refugees offer for their local economies. However, citizens within host communities may see the development aspirations of migrants as a threat to their own development. This is likely when citizens don’t have access to public goods and are battling with a high cost of living.
Populist political leaders are quick to speak of migrants competing for jobs with citizens.
There is a long history of state and societal hostility to migrant communities in Africa, and elsewhere, especially during economic downturns. For example, in the infamous “Ghana must Go” campaign in Nigeria in 1983, over two million Ghanaians in Nigeria were deported.
Mass expulsions also took place from Ghana (1954 and 1969) and Côte d’Ivoire (1958). More recently, diplomatic ties between Ghana and Nigeria became strained again over alleged mistreatment of Nigerians in Ghana.
EU interest in ‘development to stop migration’
African and European policy makers do accept that migration and development are related. Yet, European politicians have long shown a preference for understanding this as development to stop migration towards Europe.
This is emphasised in the EU Emergency Trust Fund, aimed at curbing irregular migration to Europe. This has essentially given development funds a political aim of stopping migration (on the flawed assumption that better job opportunities at home will stop migration).
There is an increasing emphasis too on offering development funds in return for cooperation on returning African migrants from Europe.
The most recent agreement at the intercontinental level, the Samoa Agreement, underlines the idea that
migration can be a source of prosperity, innovation and sustainable development (Article 65).
Yet there is a focus on return and reintegration measures as an integral contribution to the development of African countries.
Under these circumstances, some African countries have started to adopt similar narratives on migration and development.
We concluded from our research that there is a mismatch between social and policy attitudes to migration. This ambiguity can negatively affect the conditions under which mobility happens.
Migration governance on the continent should reflect the diversity of attitudes. It’s time policy makers took responsibility for ensuring that.
Franzisca Zanker received funding from the Heinrich Boell Foundation in 2023-2024 to co-author a study on Mobility Norms in Africa. This research is presented in this piece.
Amanda Bisong receives funding from the Heinrich Boell Foundation in 2023-2024 to co-author a study on Mobility Norms in Africa. This research is presented in this piece.
