Table Of Contents:

Preface
Contributors
International Migration and Development in Africa: Issues, Challenges, and Policy Options by Assefaw Bariagaber   
Zimbabwe Skilled Migrants in Botswana: What Are the Impacts? by Albert Makochekanwa and Prosper Kambarami   
Nature and Impact of International Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case of Ugandans Moving to South Sudan and Arab Gulf States by Rogers Twesigye   
International Migration in Ethiopia: Challenges and Opportunities by Endalew Addis   
Impact of Migrant Remittances on National Economy and Household Income: Some Evidence from Selected Sudanese States by Abdul Hameed Elias Suliman,  Ebaidalla Mahjoub Ebaidalla, and Abdalla Ali Ahmed    
The Impact of International Remittance on Poverty, Household Consumption and Investment in Urban Ethiopia: Evidence from Cross-sectional Measures by Kokeb G.Giorgis and Meseret Molla

The book examines international migration in Africa from the general “develop mentalist” perspective to explain the dynamics of migration, focusing more on actor-structure interactions. Although there are continuing challenges, the book assumes that migration of Africans across international borders has benefitted migrants, in terms of investment; their families, in terms of investment and consumption; and the country of origin, in terms of alleviating unemployment and spurring macro-economic growth.

In addition to this introductory chapter (Chapter One), the book consists of five chapters, all of which are case studies on international migration from five countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Per instructions from OSSREA, each case study contains detailed account of the significance of the study, review of the literature and the gap the study intends to fill, detailed account of data collection methods, sampling procedures and analysis techniques, and policy recommendations. In addition, the questionnaire used to collect data is included in an appendix at the end of each chapter. Therefore, each chapter discusses a whole range of issues and is much longer than chapters one normally finds in an edited book.

The chapters included in the book have the following common features:
1.    They all deal with a common theme focused on the developmental aspects of international migration. These include remittances and their effects on migrants’ investments, household consumption and investment, and national economic growth; brain drain and/or gain; abuses and challenges migrants face in destination countries; and challenges and responses of the countries of origin.
2.    Each chapter analyzes mainly primary data collected through extensive field work for the sole purpose of this endeavor. Therefore, each chapter is original in terms of the substantive issues raised relevant to the country under study.  As a result, the case studies raise questions of interest to scholars and policy-makers, especially because they provide suggestions based on empirical findings.
3.    The volume is policy-oriented and the questioned raised, the challenges identified, and the policy recommendations made are of potential use by African governments, who have so far been unable to formulate and integrate migrant-relevant policies for maximum benefits from the migration of their citizens.
4.    Each chapter brings forth the experiences of migrants in their own words, including how they navigate through the migration process, how they see migration affecting the self, the household, and the country of origin. One of the chapters goes even further and includes the impact of return migration on the destination country if and when the migrants return.

In Chapter Two, Albert Mankochekanwa and Prosper Kambarami look at the migration of Zimbabwean education and health professionals to neighboring Botswana, focusing on the impact of migration on the countries of origin and destination, and the possible impacts on both should the Zimbabwean migrants return home. Some of the main issues raised include the positive impacts of skilled Zimbabwean workers in Botswana, the challenges and abuses they face and how Botswana can address these. Also raised are questions such as: What polices can Zimbabwe put in place in future to curtail brain drain? What policies should Botswana consider to avoid collapse of its educational and health institutions currently manned by Zimbabweans in the event that they return to their country? How best can Botswana address the ill-treatment of Zimbabweans by law enforcement agencies, such as the Botswana police force and immigration officials?

The findings indicate that Zimbabwean migration has been a brain drain to Zimbabwe while brain gain for Botswana. The findings further indicate that Zimbabwean migrants have been abused in Botswana and called upon the Government to implement generous migrant policies because of the higher demand for Zimbabwe migrant skills in Botswana and suggested ways to make it attractive for them to return. While the migration of Africans to other continents has raised alarm at the abuses they suffer, this chapter also suggests that inter-African country migration is not immune to this. Nonetheless, Mankochekanwa and Kambarami find that Zimbabwean migration has benefited the migrants and Botswana. The importance of this chapter lies in its attempt to explain the nature and dynamics of South-South migration, particularly intra-African migration, not common in other works.

Rogers Twesigye (Chapter Three) pushes South-South migration further by comparing the migration of Ugandans to the Republic of Sudan and the Arab Gulf States. Twesigye applies the new economy of migration approach to answer the following questions: What were the trends in migration of Ugandans to South Sudan and the Arab Gulf States? What are the underlying pull and push factors of Ugandans to South Sudan and the Arab Gulf States?  What is the individual and household socio-economic impact of Ugandans migrants to South Sudan and the Arab Gulf States? What is the impact of such transfer/remittances on Uganda’s national development? What are the challenges that Ugandans face in South Sudan and the Arab Gulf States? What, if any, are the successes and challenges of Ugandan Government response to the migration of its citizens to South Sudan and the Arab Gulf States?
The findings indicate that remittances sent by Ugandans who migrated to South Sudan and the Arab Gulf States have benefitted the migrants, in terms of investment; their households, in terms of consumption and investment, and the national economy, in terms of alleviating unemployment and foreign currency accumulation. In addition, the findings indicate that there was no brain drain because most of the migrants to both destinations were relatively uneducated. Twesigye, however, finds that migrant abuses have been rampant in both, contending that this appears to be independent of the migrant destination taken by the Ugandans. Like Chapter Two, therefore, the study confirms that intra-African migration is accompanied by violations of the rights of the migrants. Furthermore, the Ugandan Government has been relatively more engaged with those who migrated to the Arab Gulf States but not with those who migrated to South Sudan. Twesigye concludes by calling upon the Ugandan Government to be more proactive in dealing with migrant issues and to formulate policies that focus on protection of all Ugandan migrants.

In Chapter Four, Endalew Addis continues with the investigation of South-South migration of Ethiopians but also adds South-North migration of Ethiopians in his study to (comparatively) assess the opportunities and challenges associated with their migration to South Africa, the Middle East and the West.  He approaches his study from the new economics of labor migration perspective to examine, among other things, the role remittance flows have played in the betterment of the livelihood of the household and the national economy. His emphasis on the financial and technical know-how Ethiopia gains (or loses as the case may be) and government responses to the challenges posed by migration of its citizens, especially in light of the rampant abuses Ethiopians and other migrants suffer in South Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, brought to the forefront the role of the country of origin in managing migration. Some of the question Addis raises are: What are the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of Ethiopian migrants to South Africa, Middle East and Western countries? What is the effect of brain drain in Ethiopia and how do Ethiopians benefit from international migration through brain gain? What is the impact of remittance flow to Ethiopia and Ethiopians? What type of human rights violations do Ethiopians face in the processes of international migration? What are the successes and challenges of policy responses of international migration in Ethiopia?

The findings indicate that the international migration of Ethiopians to the three regions have been positive as well as negative. On the positive side, Addis contends that remittances sent home have been used wisely for investment and household consumption, and return migrants have acquired “practical scientific knowledge, entrepreneurship and business management skills and knowledge…” On the negative side, the findings indicate that Ethiopians have suffered abuses in the Middle East and South Africa and called upon the Ethiopian Government to come up with a comprehensive migration policy to promote the protection of its migrant citizens and to combat human smuggling and trafficking. According to Addis, it is imperative for the Government of Ethiopia to expand employment opportunities for returnees and place them in jobs based on their expertise in order to avoid brain waste.

Chapters 2, 3, and 4, all view international migration as generally positive because the migrants, their households, and the countries of origin (and, in Chapter 2, the country of destination) have benefitted either because of remittance flows or because of the acquisition of knowledge and skills for potential use in the countries of origin. At the same time, the three chapters indicate that the migration of Africans to Botswana, South Sudan and the Middle East (but not the West) have been accompanied by violations of their human rights. This inevitably raises the question as to whether or not race or ethnicity is a factor in the violations of the rights of African migrants. And if so, what types of abuses, beyond those that all other migrants suffer, may be attributed to one’s race or ethnicity? Nonetheless, the protection of migrant rights remains as one of the most important challenges countries of origin in Africa have to address.
The above three chapters have raised various questions related to international migration, ranging from the characteristics of migrants, the causal factors for migrating, brain gain and/or drain  related to migration, remittance flows and their impact on the migrants, the household, and the country of origin. They have also raised issues related to violations of the rights of migrants, the role of the country of origin in protecting the rights of its citizens, and the need for the development of comprehensive and more proactive migrant policies.

Chapter Five and Chapter Six, on the other hand, raise more focused, remittance-centered issues. As a consequence, the analysis on remittances is more comprehensive compared to the analyses in the three chapters. In Chapter Five, Abdul Hamid Elias Suliman, Ebaidalla Mahjoub Ebaidalla, and Abdalla Ali Ahmed focus on the impact of remittances on the household and national incomes, and the role they play in investment, capital accumulation and human capital improvement. The study is timely and significant because of the following reasons: (1) remittance are becoming critical in the lives of a significant number of Africans and dependence on such is increasing, (2) there exists a dearth of micro- and macro-level studies on the role of remittances in Sudan, and (3) Sudan is currently suffering from acute shortage of hard currency brought about by the secession of South Sudan, and prudent management of remittances is lacking despite the long history of Sudanese international migration in search of better employment opportunities.

By applying standard econometric models – the Economic Growth Model and the Human Capital model – to study the effects remittance on household income, national income, and national growth, Suliman, Ebaidalla, and Ahmed seek to answer the following specific questions: What is the contribution of remittances in improving household incomes? What is the impact of remittances on the national income? What is the role of remittances in investment and capital accumulation? To what extent do remittances contribute to economic development through the improvement in human capital? The findings indicate that remittances have positive and significant impact on household income (consistent with the findings in Chapters 2, 3, and 4) but not on economic growth. In light of the latter findings, Suliman, Ebaidalla, and Ahmed recommend several policy options to eliminate rampant black market trade on hard currency and increase remittance inflows through formal channels.
 
In Chapter Six, Kokeb G.Giorgis and Meseret Molla continue with the investigation of the effects of remittances on (1) poverty reduction, by employing the Two-Stage Heckman Selection Model and the Propensity Score Matching approach and on (2) spending patterns of those who received remittances and those who did not, by applying simple descriptive statistics procedures. The questions raised include: What is the difference in poverty level as measured by poverty index and poverty gap index between households that receive cash and non-cash international remittances and those who do not? Do the poor benefit from remittances more significantly than the non-poor? What are the factors that determine how remittances are spent or used by households in urban Ethiopia? Does the expenditure pattern of households who receive remittances vary from those do not?

The findings indicate that (1) consistent with the literature (Adams (2006) study on Ghana, for example), the reduction in the level of poverty was significant and (2) international remittances were mainly spent on consumption than on investment goods.  This is at variance with the dominant view that remittances are fungible and are spent like any other source of income (for example, Adams, Cuecuecha and Page (2008) study on Ghana). Based on this, G. Giorgis and Molla recommend that the Ethiopian Government find easy and less costly ways for migrants to send money back home, and called upon the Government to formulate policies that encourage the productive investment of remittances.

Taken altogether, the chapters raise timely, critical, and policy-relevant issues on international migration in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Why governments in Sub-Saharan Africa have been unable to formulate comprehensive migrant and diaspora policies despite the enormous technical and financial resources that migrants can muster, is beyond the scope of this book. But the various studies included in this book make it amply clear that the resources that migrants and diaspora communities possess are critical for the continent’s economic and social development, and have made various recommendations for optimal use of these resources.  One can only hope that government authorities will give due attention to these in order to push forward the journey towards more political, economic, and social progress that Africa has earnestly started a decade or so ago.