Ghana To Export Labour

‘Brain drain or brain gain?’
Ghana is seriously considering the option of formally exporting her skilled labour in order to capitalize on the benefits accruing from the uncontrollable phenomenon of migration.

The decision to manage migration is informed by the strong belief that the time is rife for a shift from focusing attention only on the negative aspects of migration to the positive impacts the phenomenon could have on the economy. At a “National Consultation on Migration, Remittances and Development,” Government officials, migration experts, and researchers agreed on the need for a national policy on migration through which the country can incorporate the formal export of its skilled labour.

The Private Enterprises Foundation (PEF), the Government of Ghana, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) jointly organized the consultation on Wednesday in Accra.

Internationally, migrants account for about 3% of the world’s population of 175 million persons. However, it is believed that a chunk of migrants coming from developing countries, including Ghana are unregistered, (illegal). On the other hand, remittances from registered migrants continue to be the mainstay of many families and communities in migrants’ home countries. In the case of Ghana, remittances have become a major source of foreign exchange. The Bank of Ghana estimates that remittances to Ghana rose from US $410 million in 1990 to US $2.4 billion in 2006 and has over the period been higher than the Official Development Assistance (ODA), Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and exports.

It is against this backdrop that the stakeholders who converged at the roundtable voted in favour of a policy that would allow for “brain gain” rather than “brain drain.”

Leading the pack of proponents for a national policy, Mr. Daouda Toure, United Nations Resident Co-ordinator said, “Ghana needs a holistic National Migration Policy which will look at the multifaceted nature of migration and address the key issues of legal and regulatory frameworks, human resources development and training”, among others.

Mr. Daouda who doubles as the UNDP Representative in Ghana also proposed that Ghana develops a National Human Resources Development (NHRD) strategy and training that address the skills needs of the country as well as that of developed countries.

In his view, this will enable Ghana train and export skilled labour, based on negotiated agreements with receiving countries, which as part of the agreement could support such training.

He said, “such a proactive approach to human resource development, will enable Ghana manage migration to her advantage.”

He also proposed that government could engage the receiving nations in bilateral discussions that could ensure the acquisition of visas for migrants by the Ghana government.

He revealed, “It is estimated that over the next 10-15 years, USA alone will require an additional one million health workers. It has also been noted that 23 percent of Africa’s trained medical doctors have migrated to the Northern Hemisphere, leaving Africa with a terrible deficit on health services: with 100,000 doctors to a population of 700million as compared to 200,000 doctors to France’s population of 83 million.

Mr. Toure noted that the implications for health delivery and attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets on health couldn’t be overlooked.

He continued that other sectors such as education and business continue to lose skilled professionals to the developed countries.

Therefore, Mr.Toure said, “there is every indication that there are real opportunities to make migration work for Ghana’s development and we must continue to tap on opportunities provided by migration in remittances, improved skills, knowledge and technology.”

But, he said, Ghana must also allow for planned return migration by enabling migrants to invest in safe and profitable investments and to bring home not just their money, but also the acquired know-how and expertise

Hon. Akwasi Osei-Adjei, Ghana’s new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Regional Corporation and NEPAD was of the view that “remittances stand out among the benefits of migration,” but in most cases those benefiting from migration are traffickers. Hence, the country needs a national policy in order to optimize the full benefits of migration.

For his part, Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning noted that remittances represent an enormous transfer of resources from the endowed to the less endowed countries of the world and in many cases between countries of the South. These, he said “constitute the second largest capital flow to developing countries.”

He disclosed, “private inward transfers received by groups such as non-governmental organisations, embassies, service providers and individuals through the bank and non-bank financial institutions in Ghana amounted to $1.52 billion dollars at the end of the first quarter in 2007.”

This, according to him, represents an increase of about 17.1 percent over the same period in 2006. “Indeed, remittances from abroad have emerged as one of the foremost contributors to Ghana’s GDP.”

Mr.Baah-Wiredu said, the impacts of remittances can be realized in proper healthcare for local residents, increase in employment opportunities and educational level, landed opportunities, etc. The standard of living has improved drastically with respect to the impact of remittances.

“This presupposes that, consistent increase in remittances would go a long way to promote national growth towards achieving the goals of MDGs.”

Reviewing the history of migration in Ghana, Dr. Mariama Awumbila, Director, Centre for Migration Studies noted that migration has brought about a loss of human capital, but can also provide an opportunity for the acquisition of skills, experience and knowledge, resulting in a ‘brain gain’.

“The exodus of professional and others does not necessarily involve a one-way flow of skills. Return can involve transfer of skills back to Ghana, job improvement and investment in small businesses,” she said.

She pointed out that a national migration policy should take into account the prime challenge of how to tackle the main push factors for migration - poverty and the lack of job opportunities in Ghana.

‘Brain drain or brain gain?’
Ghana is seriously considering the option of formally exporting her skilled labour in order to capitalize on the benefits accruing from the uncontrollable phenomenon of migration.

The decision to manage migration is informed by the strong belief that the time is rife for a shift from focusing attention only on the negative aspects of migration to the positive impacts the phenomenon could have on the economy. At a “National Consultation on Migration, Remittances and Development,” Government officials, migration experts, and researchers agreed on the need for a national policy on migration through which the country can incorporate the formal export of its skilled labour.

The Private Enterprises Foundation (PEF), the Government of Ghana, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) jointly organized the consultation on Wednesday in Accra.

Internationally, migrants account for about 3% of the world’s population of 175 million persons. However, it is believed that a chunk of migrants coming from developing countries, including Ghana are unregistered, (illegal). On the other hand, remittances from registered migrants continue to be the mainstay of many families and communities in migrants’ home countries. In the case of Ghana, remittances have become a major source of foreign exchange. The Bank of Ghana estimates that remittances to Ghana rose from US $410 million in 1990 to US $2.4 billion in 2006 and has over the period been higher than the Official Development Assistance (ODA), Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and exports.

It is against this backdrop that the stakeholders who converged at the roundtable voted in favour of a policy that would allow for “brain gain” rather than “brain drain.”

Leading the pack of proponents for a national policy, Mr. Daouda Toure, United Nations Resident Co-ordinator said, “Ghana needs a holistic National Migration Policy which will look at the multifaceted nature of migration and address the key issues of legal and regulatory frameworks, human resources development and training”, among others.

Mr. Daouda who doubles as the UNDP Representative in Ghana also proposed that Ghana develops a National Human Resources Development (NHRD) strategy and training that address the skills needs of the country as well as that of developed countries.

In his view, this will enable Ghana train and export skilled labour, based on negotiated agreements with receiving countries, which as part of the agreement could support such training.

He said, “such a proactive approach to human resource development, will enable Ghana manage migration to her advantage.”

He also proposed that government could engage the receiving nations in bilateral discussions that could ensure the acquisition of visas for migrants by the Ghana government.

He revealed, “It is estimated that over the next 10-15 years, USA alone will require an additional one million health workers. It has also been noted that 23 percent of Africa’s trained medical doctors have migrated to the Northern Hemisphere, leaving Africa with a terrible deficit on health services: with 100,000 doctors to a population of 700million as compared to 200,000 doctors to France’s population of 83 million.

Mr. Toure noted that the implications for health delivery and attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets on health couldn’t be overlooked.

He continued that other sectors such as education and business continue to lose skilled professionals to the developed countries.

Therefore, Mr.Toure said, “there is every indication that there are real opportunities to make migration work for Ghana’s development and we must continue to tap on opportunities provided by migration in remittances, improved skills, knowledge and technology.”

But, he said, Ghana must also allow for planned return migration by enabling migrants to invest in safe and profitable investments and to bring home not just their money, but also the acquired know-how and expertise

Hon. Akwasi Osei-Adjei, Ghana’s new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Regional Corporation and NEPAD was of the view that “remittances stand out among the benefits of migration,” but in most cases those benefiting from migration are traffickers. Hence, the country needs a national policy in order to optimize the full benefits of migration.

For his part, Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning noted that remittances represent an enormous transfer of resources from the endowed to the less endowed countries of the world and in many cases between countries of the South. These, he said “constitute the second largest capital flow to developing countries.”

He disclosed, “private inward transfers received by groups such as non-governmental organisations, embassies, service providers and individuals through the bank and non-bank financial institutions in Ghana amounted to $1.52 billion dollars at the end of the first quarter in 2007.”

This, according to him, represents an increase of about 17.1 percent over the same period in 2006. “Indeed, remittances from abroad have emerged as one of the foremost contributors to Ghana’s GDP.”

Mr.Baah-Wiredu said, the impacts of remittances can be realized in proper healthcare for local residents, increase in employment opportunities and educational level, landed opportunities, etc. The standard of living has improved drastically with respect to the impact of remittances.

“This presupposes that, consistent increase in remittances would go a long way to promote national growth towards achieving the goals of MDGs.”

Reviewing the history of migration in Ghana, Dr. Mariama Awumbila, Director, Centre for Migration Studies noted that migration has brought about a loss of human capital, but can also provide an opportunity for the acquisition of skills, experience and knowledge, resulting in a ‘brain gain’.

“The exodus of professional and others does not necessarily involve a one-way flow of skills. Return can involve transfer of skills back to Ghana, job improvement and investment in small businesses,” she said.

She pointed out that a national migration policy should take into account the prime challenge of how to tackle the main push factors for migration - poverty and the lack of job opportunities in Ghana.