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Migration of Skilled and Educated Africans Continues to Drain Continent

November 9, 2007

On October 21st, hundreds of African university administrators convened at the Seventh of April University in the Libyan capital of Tripoli to participate in a five day conference titled “The African Brain Drain – Managing the Drain: Working with the Diaspora.” The conference, sponsored by the Association for African Universities (AAU) aimed to address the phenomenon commonly referred to as the “brain drain.” This “brain drain,” is understood as the migration of skilled and educated Africans to developed countries and is reported to have cost Africa $4 billion a year [1].

For decades, Africans have lamented the loss of a large proportion of their most skilled and educated professionals to the developed world. According to the United Nations International Organization for Migration, Africa lost an estimated 60,000 professionals (doctors, professors, engineers, and other qualified personnel) between 1985 and 1990. Since 1990, an estimated 20,000 professionals have left Africa every year [2]. Approximately 80% of Ghana’s doctors leave the country within five years of graduation, and 25% of all doctors trained in Africa migrate in order to work abroad. Even more striking is that fact that there are more Sierra Leonean-trained doctors in the city of Chicago than in the country of Sierra Leone itself [3].

There is a growing criticism among both academics and non-academics, Africans and non-Africans, however, that lamenting and complaining about the brain drain is not being accompanied by any sort of creative dialogue that could lead to substantive policy solutions to halt, reverse, or successfully cope with the brain drain phenomenon.

It is important to note that a few African countries have begun to take measures to decrease the impact of the brain drain. Various incentives and motivation systems have been put into place, but with limited success. The significant raises given to nurses in Botswana, for example, have done very little to curb their migration. There have also been efforts to increase the level of funding to higher education in several African countries. A newer initiative, termed “the Diaspora option” seeks to tap into the skills of African professionals living in the Diaspora through either networks of professionals and intellectuals or programs for the return of expatriate Africans. However, both of these options require large sums of money [4]. While some countries have taken the initiative to experiment with different strategies of coping with the brain drain, other countries have failed to act. Furthermore, many of the strategies that have been implemented have not been effective.

Conference supporters, sponsors, and participants all seemed to agree that a fresh approach to the problem of the brain drain is needed. Once causes and implications have been established, the next step is to develop a proactive approach to solving the problem of the brain drain, rather than simply restating the existence of a problem. In the conference concept paper, the AUU stressed the “need to adopt a fresh approach to a phenomenon that continues to attract heated and not always productive debate” [5]. Key donors and international organizations, including the World Bank and the African Development Bank, challenged the conference’s academic participants to generate strategies to turn the skills and expertise in the diaspora into a “brain gain” [6].

The causes of brain drain, as laid out in the AUU concept paper, can be divided into two categories: “push factors” and “pull factors.” Push factors are those which “push” professionals out of their home country. Push factors consist of undesirable economic, social, and political conditions in the home country, which include but are not limited to factors such as poor wages and salaries, poor living conditions, unsatisfactory working conditions, lack of research infrastructure and funds, poor prospects for professional development, social unrest, conflict and civil wars, and restrictions on political rights. Pull factors, which function to entice professionals to migrate, include but are not limited to the prospect of better remuneration abroad, flexible career paths, high living standards, the value placed on intellectual worth, and general stability of the host country [7].

In recent years, the pull factors have been bolstered by a concerted effort by developed country companies and governments to recruit skilled workers from the developing world. These recruitment strategies, which include the American green card and the German permanent residence visas, have effectively exacerbated the problem of the brain drain [8]. The proposed “blue card” scheme of the European Union, aimed at making the EU more attractive in order to compete with other Western countries for skilled migrant workers, would further exacerbate the African brain drain. Moroccan international economic law professor Yajeddine El Husseini complained that Africans, “spend a lot of money educating and training technical students and then in the end the northern countries will cream off the best…it is a big mistake and a criminal act of the north to drain the south of its brainpower.” He went on to call the recruiting efforts “a new form of colonialism, of discrimination…” [9].

Some conference attendees expressed doubts that the conference was departing from the usual cycle of complaints. One South African academic, who preferred not to be named, said, “‘it’s the first morning and all we’ve heard is a repetition from vice-chancellors of the same problem. Yet it’s their job to create enabling conditions in which academics can work and so be retained; they can’t just state the problem.” Another conference participant, Andrew Othieno, project officer in the Association of Commonwealth Universities’ Africa unit, whose job is to promote partnerships between British and African universities, said that British academics complain about “African academics putting the problem on the table, as they’ve been doing since the Sixties, but offering no solution. It’s like continuing to complain about colonialism” [10]. In the immediate aftermath of the conference, and without a formal report issued, it is still unclear whether or not the conference succeeded in its goal of forming concrete strategies for reversing the brain drain or whether it simply reiterated the problem.

Recognizing and describing the brain drain phenomenon, while necessary, does little to explain the root causes of the phenomenon. Furthermore, problem definition does not lend itself to action. The same is true of Africa’s development crisis. The development crisis in Africa is widely recognized and has garnered a significant amount of international attention, but rarely does the debate move past problem definition to a deeper level of analysis that identifies and seeks to address root causes. The IIJD’s conference report, “Priorities for the Future,” developed from the findings of the International Conference on the State of Affairs of Africa, asserts that, “Dysfunctional systems of governance, supported by poor leadership and inept economic and political institutions established after colonization are the root causes of Africa’s development crisis. The repressive political environment and the systemic barriers to securing civil and political rights imposed by government institutions paralyze the ingenuity of the people of Africa and precipitate the decline of the continent into poverty” [11].

While the IIJD recognizes the importance of the various “push” factors described in the AAU conference concept paper, we would especially like to emphasize the impact of political conditions on the brain drain and the larger issue of African development. In many African countries, the skills and expertise of Africa’s best and brightest become obsolete if they are not members of the ruling party. African politicians in power will often do all that they can to ensure that those in the opposition to the government have little chance of success. Under these conditions, African professionals have little choice but to flee their home country in search of better and commensurate opportunities.

Political parties in power tend to focus their energy on retaining and increasing their own power, rather than reforming their country’s weak institutions that impede development progress. The importance of institutional reform and quality leadership cannot be overemphasized. African political institutions must be reformed to include a real separation and balance of powers between the branches of government and independent, impartial and autonomous electoral bodies, anti-corruption commissions, and justice systems. Political culture must also be addressed. Leaders must be held accountable to the people. They must view themselves, and be viewed, as purveyors of positive change for Africa. Rather than resign themselves to poverty, Africans must hold their leaders accountable and demand action.

The IIJD applauds the AUU for taking the initiative to discuss the problem of the brain drain by organizing the COREVIP conference. We hope that a conference report will be forthcoming and that it will demonstrate a concerted effort to discuss and formulate specific policy proposals aimed at halting and reversing the brain drain phenomenon.

In order to move forward, all stakeholders must make a commitment to addressing the root causes of the brain drain and the larger issue of African development. The IIJD calls on African governments to reform government institutions that impede development and to commit to responsible leadership. Only through the reform of institutions can we combat corruption, demand accountability, secure investments, and create an incentive for educated and capable citizens to stay and contribute to their countries' futures. African citizens must hold their leaders accountable to ensure that they are working to create a favorable environment for the retention of skilled Africans so that the brain drain can be successfully slowed to a trickle. Additionally, the IIJD calls on Africans in the Diaspora to engage with the continent, share their expertise, and work with their home countries to improve the social, economic, and political environments.

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