Brain Drain and Capacity Building in Africa

“In 25 years, Africa will be blank of brain.“ That is a dire warning, from Dr Lalla Ben Barka of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) reflects the growing alarm over Africa’s increasing exodus of human capital. Data on Brain Drain in Africa is scarce and inconsistent; however, statistics illustrate a continent losing the very people it needs most for economic, social, scientific and technological progress. The ECA estimated that between 1960 and 1989,127,000 highly qualified African professionals left the continent. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Africa has been losing 20,000 professionals each year since 1990. This trend has sparked claims that the continent is dying a slow dearth of brain drain, and belated recognition by the United Nations that” emigration of African professionals to the west is one of the greatest obstacles to Africa’s development.

The Price of the Brain Drain

Brain drain in Africa has financial, institutional, and societal costs. African countries little return from their investment in higher education, since too many graduates leaved and fail to return home at the end of their studies.

In light of a dwindling professional sector, African institutions are increasely dependent on foreign expertise. To fill the human resource gap created by brain drain, Africa employs  up to 150,000 expatriates professionals at a cost of some four billions United States Dollars (US$4,000,000) a year.

The departure of health professionals has eroded the ability of medical and social services in several sub-Sahara African countries to deliver even basic health and social needs. Thirty-eight of the forty-seven of the sub-Sahara African countries fall short of the minimum World Health Organization (WHO) standard of twenty physicians per 100,000 people.

This continues outflow of skilled labour contributes to widening gap in science and technology between Africa and other continenets.Africa’s share of global scientific output has fallen from 0.5% in the mid-1980s to 0.3% in the mid 1990s.There are more African scientists and engineers in the United State of America (USA) than in the entire African continent.

The flight of professionals from Africa endangers the economic and political systems in several Africa countries. As its middle class crumble and its contribution to the tax system, employment and civil society disappear, Africa risks becoming home to even greater mass poverty.

In Hunt of Solution

Throughout four decades of African losing its best and brightest, the world debated the semantics of the issue and focused almost solely on remittances, overlooking the implications of brain drain on human resources, institutional capacity, and health/social services.

Efforts to stem Africa’s brain drain focusing on repatriation strategies were discourageing.Studies shown that repatriation will not work so long as African governments fail to address the pull and push factors that influence emigration. Moreover, the relationship between Africa and the African Diaspora remain a major barrier to finding solutions.

Virtual Participation

One potential solution to Africa’s brain drain is virtual participation. Virtual participation is the participation in nation-building without physical relocation. It also shows promises as a means to engage the African Diaspora in development efforts. Mercy Brown of the University of Cape Town notes that virtual participation”…sees the brain drain not as loss but a potential gain…High skilled expatriates are seen as a potentially useful human resources for the country of origin…the challenge is to mobilize these brains.”

Questions remain, however. Will virtual participation work in a continent where government-Diaspora relations are adversarial and information technology almost nonexistent and where development needs are complex and require a sustained commitment?

The Diaspora as Stakeholder

Recent developments in government-Diaspora relations show positive signs of change. A recent study, semantics aside: the Role of the African Diaspora in Africa’s Capacity Building Efforts, revealed emerging Diaspora efforts to assume a more active role in Africa’s development. The study, conducted by the Association for Higher Education and Development (AHEAD), a Diaspora group based in Canada, was found by the International Development Research Center (IDRC).

Semantics Aside examined the potential of virtual participation to facilitate an effective and sustained Diaspora commitment to Africa’s development efforts. The also study concluded that virtual participation has tremendous potential to channel the untapped intellectual and materials input from the African Diaspora. Moreover, its recorded a growing awareness among the African Diaspora of its moral, intellectual, and social responsibility to contribute to Africa’s development efforts. Africa has a growing will to reconcile with the African Diaspora. Both The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU) have formally recognized the African Diaspora as a key player in the development agenda of the continent. In 2003, the African Union (AU) amended its charter so as to “…encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of the continent.”

Virtual Linkages

Another potential area where the talents of the Diaspora could be channeled is virtual linkages. Virtual linkages are independent, non-political, and non-profit network facilitating skill transfer and capacity building. These networks mobilize skilled Diaspora members’ expertise for the development process in their countries of origin.

To date, forty-one (41) virtual networks in thirty (30) different countries have been identified. Six of these are African, including the South African Network of Skills Abroad (SANSA) with members in sixty-eight (68) countries.

Individual of the Diaspora also contribute through virtual networks, as visiting scholars, by investing in companies, and assisting in joint ventures between host and sending countries. According to author Damtew Teferra, Africa lags behind:”…this pattern of contributing to scientific and technological development is repeated for many Third World countries, though not…for most of Africa.”

In 2001, The International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched the Migration for the Development of Africa (MIDA) “to develop the potential synergy between…African migrants and the demand from countries by facilitating the transfer of virtual skills and resources of the African Diaspora to their countries of origin.”Bassed on the notion of human capital mobility through temporary, long-term and virtual participation, International Organization for Migration works with African and host countries and Diaspora members. The Migration for the Development of Africa (MIDA) has launched pilot’s project in a number of African countries.

Next Steps

In November 2004, the Association for Higher Education and Development (AHEAD) in collaboration with International Development Research Center (IDRC), organized an international Stakeholder Roundtable on Mobilizing the African Diaspora toward development Efforts in Africa. The roundatable, held in Ottawa, Canada, brought together key stakeholders, including the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Canadian government agencies, African missions, on-governmental organizations, and Diaspora groups to discuss brain drain in Africa and potential strategies for mobilizing the African Diaspora. Some of the issues identified included the need to recognize the African Diaspora as a key stakeholder in the current dialogue and efforts to address the issues of brain drain and capacity building in Africa. Effective and sustained Diaspora engagement will require policy and resources commitments by key stakeholders, international organizations, African governments, and host countries.

The emerging Diaspora movement to become more active in Africa’s development efforts, the growing political will in Africa the Diaspora potential contribution, and the possibilities created by information technology show  that the African Diaspora is not, after all, a total loss to the continent.

Albert D Kamara, Libya

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