Workshop on Circular Migration and Labour Matching European Commission 25 th March 2009 Belgium Diaspora skills mobilisation and deployment for development.

Workshop on Circular Migration and Labour Matching

European Commission 25th March 2009 Belgium

Diaspora skills mobilisation and deployment for development in Africa

Kiran Luchmun AurokiumAfricaRecruit London

Who we are

AfricaRecruitEnabling best practiceSurveys, Seminars,

AnalysisThink Tank

www.africarecruit.com

Findajobinafrica.comEnabling Skills

Mobility and Knowledge Transfer

www.findajobinafrica.com

AfricaDiaspora Enabling Remittances

And Investmentswww.africadiaspora.com

Program of New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) & Commonwealth Business Council

( CBC)

Capacity Building with Diaspora as one of the driver

"AfricaRecruit one of The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) big achievements for just 4 years" The Journey So Far NEPAD Secretariat June 2005

What we do……………

RemittancesInvestment

Mobilisation

Diaspora part of thePicture –

Not the picture

Human Resource

- Skills

Foreign Direct Investments -

FDI

• African’s in • Africa• Diaspora• ↓ Expats

Engagement of all stakeholders at policy and operational level

…………….Build Links, Establish Partnership

What have we done

Human Resources/Skills Remittances/Investment 5 successful Human Resource (HR) forums 2 Healthcare mobilisation forums Conducted in-depth surveys of Brain drain Regional wide HR E-Newsletter Diaspora E Newsletter Database of Skills, Advertised over 150,000

jobs in 5 years for over 2,500 recruiters. 5 international career/recruitment fair’s inside

and outside Africa Return of over 500 Africans in the

Diaspora/year and retained over 500 skills within Africa

Influenced policies and operational change

4 Diaspora Investment Forum’s Conducted in-depth surveys of over

6,000 Diaspora on remittances and Investments

Facilitated and supported numerous Diaspora investment/business conferences in Europe/North America

Showcase success stories Successfully advocated for changes

at governmental and operational level

"When AfricaRecruit was launched in 2002, I provided an endorsement in the firm belief that its objectives were not only noble but also realizable. Since then, the initiative has performed creditably and become a key part of the NEPAD programme to mobilize quality skills for Africa.“ H.E. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, President Federal Republic of Nigeria

Examples of what we have done - 1

Presentation to House of Commons United Kingdom Parliament (2004 and 2006) on the role of remittances and Diaspora Investment. Recommendation led to the United Kingdom “Send Money Home Programme”

Presentation to the 3rd Ministerial and expert meeting of African Labour Ministers at the African Union

Presentation to the United Nations Ad-hoc expert group meeting on “Strengthening the business sector and entrepreneurship in developing countries: the potential of diasporas”

Engaged and contributed to the African Union’s strategic policy formulation for the African Diaspora

Worked closely with organisations such as Africa Business Roundtable Partnered and supported over 100 Diaspora related events in the

United Kingdom and over 200 globally over the last 5 years

Successfully raised the awareness and recognition of the Diaspora as a key partner in Africa’s development to all stakeholders including the Diaspora themselves (over 320,000 to date)

Produced 9 reports Produce a quarterly E-Human Resources Newsletter

disseminated to over 50,000 Human Resource Practitioners across Africa

Dissemination of Diaspora Newsletters ( minimum of 4 a year)

Focused on bespoke topics which will have significant impact in Africa e.g. Health and Agriculture

Presented at key strategic meetings in the United Kingdom and beyond

Examples of what we have done - 2

AfricaRecruit quoted as a “Pride of a continent: Africa's gifts to the world”

The Independent Newspaper 21 September 2006

Process of Engagement/Mobilisation/Facilitation

BY THEMEHR forums, Skills recruitment fairs , Health seminars , etc

BY NATIONALITYTanzania , Kenya , Nigeria , Cameroon , etc

BY OUTREACH & NETWORK, online & offlineSupport & attend over 100 events globally

HR e-newsletterDiaspora e-newsletter

BY PROJECT Online Career Guidance , Science Project ,

EU Diaspora surveys in UK, etc

When AfricaRecruit was launched in 2002, I provided an endorsement in the firm belief that its objectives were not only noble but also realizable. Since then, the initiative has

performed creditably and become a key part of the NEPAD programme to mobilize quality skills for Africa.“ H.E. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, President Federal Republic of

Nigeria

Why people leave Africa? 1 of 3

Personal Professional Government/Political

Join husband an start family

Born in the UK and was not paid for some months

Parents migrated

University studies Pursue Undergraduate

Studies Acquire more knowledge Training Enhance perspective on

global matters Specialist Training

Unstable political Environment

Why people leave Africa? 2 of 3

Personal Professional Government/Political

Marriage Settlement To support

husband while he was studying

Sent to school in UK and never went back

Professional development and better remuneration

Scholarship Redundancy Practice safe

medicine

Refugee Lack of professional

encouragement and government policies

Crime and insecurity

Why people leave Africa? 3 of 3

Personal

Professional Government/Political

Study abroad Not able to practice

clinical pharmacy Postgraduate Degree in

Sports and Exercise Medicine

Poor opportunities

Affirmative action in South Africa = Reverse Apartheid

Anti-Apartheid Tribalism

PROJECT 1:Engaging in Africa’s Health Care while in the Diaspora

Consider going back on a permanent basis

As a consultant or expert

Prepared to work outside your country of origin

No 8% 5% 0%

Not sure

22% 0% 0%

Yes 70% 95% 100%

Programmes currently involved with in Africa’s healthcare system

35% of the 592 African Diaspora Healthcare professionals surveyed respondents are currently involved in Africa’s health care system

Examples of programme Diaspora are involved

Independent Public Health Management Consultant

HIV Care of AIDS Orphans

Networking off line and online ( E-groups)

Developing links from healthcare or related institutions to similar organisations in Africa

Advocacy in health care

Donation of equipments, materials and training materials

Teaching and Research

Promoting medical leadership

Voluntary work-organisational/team and or individual effort

Registration of drugs and clinical trials in Africa

PROJECT 2 :ENGAGING THE DIASPORA

IN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY IN AFRICA 

The international council for science regional office for africa (icsu roa) and national research Foundation (NRF) South Africa awarded AfricaRecruit the Africa Diaspora Brain - Gain project.

The aim’s of the project is to:•Effectively mobilise and engage the African Diaspora in Science, Engineering, Technology and related sectors for projects in Africa•Gain an in-depth understanding of the ongoing African Diaspora science and technology initiatives •To gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges and solution to enable effective and sustainable Diaspora engagement•To develop a sustainable work plan to enable effective Diaspora engagement

METHODOLOGY: Over seven months (February – August 08), AfricaRecruit conducted a study to map out Diaspora involvement in Science and Technology focusing on the following activities:

  FINDINGS: •Information and data gathering to develop a robust database of Diaspora expertise in science and technology (over 2,000 submissions at www.findajobinafrica.com )•Cases studies of successful Diaspora engagement and other continents such as Asia. (Total of 20 case studies)•Stakeholder engagement using various approaches online and offline to gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges, incentives and recommendation’s to effective Diaspora engagement.( 252 Diaspora completed the survey) •Out of the 252 respondents who completed the survey, 76% were male and 24% were female 

Respondents are experts in a variety of fields but the highest number of respondents (30%) are IT specialists, followed by engineers who make up 14% of respondents while the remainder are from wide variety of disciplines. The level of scientists qualified to at least masters’ level of education is 58%. The respondents belong to 43 professional organisations and or associations  18% consider the relocation expenses and salary offered to be insufficient incentives while 17% have not been able to find out about opportunities to work in Africa in sufficient time to apply for them. Others sited lack of professional integration (12%) and the lack of a clear recruitment process (12%) as reasons they have not returned to work in Africa. Only 23% of the respondents belong to a Diaspora organization. This explains why he or she may not be aware of activities that are carried out by their peers because they have no contact or access to information. However, it is worth noting that 51% of Diaspora scientists are involved in projects in Africa instigated at their own initiative. Activities include education support, provision of computers to rural schools, consultancy services, general support and charitable giving .

PROJECT 3 : Kenya Diaspora Skills & Investment Forum

Results of the Survey of the Diaspora December 2006 Online and offline survey at www.kenyans4kenya.com or www.africarecruit.com was communicated widely to over 6,000 Kenyan Diaspora as well as completion of the survey at the event on the 9th December 06 of which 1327 completed the survey giving an estimated response rate of 18%.

The survey migration from Kenya as well as sustenance or investment driven remittances; challenges and obstacles with suggestions 

1327 responses significant number Diaspora based in the United Kingdom with other countries of residence such as Australia,Belgium, Botswana, Denmark,France,Germany,Italy,Sweden, Thailand and United States

Approximately 20% belonged to a Diaspora Organisation

60% of the 1327 Kenyan Diaspora that responded to the survey left Kenya for Career Professional reasons

Approximately 1/3 of the respondents left Kenya over 10years ago and 20% belong to a Diaspora organisation and 78% considering going back to Kenya now or at a later date

70% of the respondents consider becoming self-employed if they return home 82% of the 1327 Diaspora respondents remit to Kenya for sustenance purposes of those who do half remit for business/investment purposes. 24% of those who do not remit for sustenance do send money home for business and investment reasons.Estimated 2.6million US dollars/year remitted

PROJECT 4 : Africa Career Guidance

Harnessing the Skills Capacity and Capabilities of Youth in Africa by providing Career Guidance

One of the significant challenges of enhancing youth employment in Africa is to develop a more effective matching and linking mechanism between skills of current and prospective African university graduates and job opportunities in the marketplace

Results of the Survey

60% of the respondents access the internet frequently ranging from every day to 3-5 days a week

43% of the respondents indicated they would consider changing their course if they had the information available before choosing the present course they are doing.

25% of the respondents access career guidance service using the web

Over 70% of the respondents rated a website with career guidance as very important

Only 12% of the recognised 301 universities in Africa have career centres with only 34% possessing a website

Support in the form of Partnership

Technical Partnership e.g. information technology infrastructure Knowledge and Content e.g. career advisors, counselling, business

skills and enterprise development Financial partner Information e.g. job profiles, internship and or volunteer posts, Media partner

END OF PROJECT SLIDES

THE DIASPORA Challenges to engage

Harnessing its capital - financial, intellectual, social, nostalgic and political potential

Diversity – varying needs Various reasons for leaving Africa- perspective on Africa

wide Who do the organisations or governments want to engage

with the Diaspora engage with? Access the hidden majority vs obvious minority African governments/organisations engaging with

individual Diaspora’s or groups Host government difficulties in engaging a political groups Lack/poor or misinformation

Steps to Engage the Diaspora in Circular Migration

Mobilisation around themes Informing Access to job opportunities Platform for debate with stakeholders Building strategic alliances/partnership Communication Dissemination Incentives

What is the Process…engaging on both sides

Skills Mapping using innovative technology

Communication programme on/offline – seminars; road shows and outreach

www.findajobinafrica.com- the job portal for Africa

Channel and Direct - Strategic alliances with various Organisations both private and public sectors; management/recruitment consultants; professional bodies and the African Diaspora

organisations and associations

Transfer - within AfricaBuild on the skills in quality and quantity - Valued asset

Retain using best practices reducing push factors

Facilitating Skills and Knowledge Transfer

• 2 million hits per month• Total 100,000 cvs• Mailing list 300,000 contacts• Users include public, private

and non-governmental sector covering job vacancies in all African countries e.g. An organisation that provides management and capacity building services to African businesses, particularly Small and Medium Enterprises

• Voluntary, Consultancies, Contract and Permanent

• All African nationalities based inside and outside Africa

• Experts based inside and outside Africa• All industries represented on the

database• Network with 1,500 formal & informal

groups - universities, professional groups, diaspora groups, etc

SOME EXAMPLES on www.findajobinafrica.com

KPMG – Railway jobs opportunities , consultancies , engineersEmerging Maket Group , IRC , ARD ,OXFAM , SAVE THE CHILDREN , Medecin Sans FrontiereDanish Management in Holland – offering consultancy work for ICT projectsMercy Corp USA – Chief of Party Liberia

Latest news update via our Diaspora newsletter

1 – Netherlands Migration Institute (NMI) asking us for introduce them to South Africa recruitment agencies

Outcomes so far

Indicators

• Increasing number of Diaspora returnees, enquiries and web stats

• Increasing number of open jobs for recruitment

• Increasing number of employers adopting strategy enabling them to target local and international candidates

• Increasing calls for recruitment fairs

• Decreasing reliance on experts

• More organisations investing in workforce

• More organisations adopting best practice

RecommendationsPolicy level• Mobility of critical skills within

Africa• Development of ToR for

investors to reflect building and transfer of skills

Partnership level for AfricaRecruit

• Develop extensive skills database

• Africa Virtual HR Forum• Facilitate Africa Skills

Development agency• Virtual HR-Recruitment forum • Mobilise more Diaspora using

ICT

                            Sabbaticals

Mentorship

Consultancy

InterimsInterns Exchange

Voluntary in areas such as health and Education- critical needs

Permanent

“There is always a way….”

ADDED VALUE

Repatriate –ExpatriateSkills …. Skills

AfricaRecruitBuilding

framework

Findajobinafrica facilitating access

attracting the best

Achieving the balance – Retaining in Africa and reclaiming from the Diaspora turning the tide

Human Capital

Develop &

Retain

Attract & reclaim

500 Diaspora

in a year HR ro

undtables

best practic

e

implementatio

n

Recommendations

for polic

y Many Africans retained in Africamobility of skills

"Mobilisation of resources is crucial for the successful implementation of NEPAD” Prof. Firmino Mucavele, Chief Executive of the NEPAD Secretariat ”

RemittancesInvestment

Mobilisation

Diaspora part of thePicture –

Not the picture Human

Resource- Skills

Foreign Direct Investments

• African’s in • Africa• Diaspora• ↓ Expats

Engagement of all stakeholders at policy and operational level

…………….Build Links, Establish Partnership

Recap: How it all fits

Africa’s Diaspora - one of Africa’s greatest offshore asset

Thank you AfricaRecruit-FindaJobinAfrica.com

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