Co-development The Emerging Approach to Managing International - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Co-development

The Emerging Approach to Managing International Labor Mobility in the Global Economy

Rudi Robinson Senior Researcher Globalization, Migration, Health and Development (GMHD) The North-South Institute November 2009

Introduction

• 1. The effects of globalization on healthcare

labor markets in poor countries and the consequent impacts on their health systems and economies

• 2. The three main stakeholders affected are
• rigin countries, destination countries,

and the immigrant health professionals themselves

The Development Problem

1. The migration of health professionals from poor to rich countries is a zero-sum game The brain drain concept of the migration

• f skilled and highly skilled persons

What is the scale of this problem? What are its dimensions? What have been the policy responses? Is co-development a workable alternative to these responses?

Main Argument

• Globalization has highlighted the

persistent disparities in income and career opportunities that exist between healthcare labor markets in developed and developing countries. Given these disparities “stay-at-home” strategies for managing the international mobility of health professionals will not always be effective

Argument (cntd.)

• A policy approach that seeks to maximize the

benefits for the three stakeholders and minimize the costs creates a “triple-win” solution and turns what is traditionally thought to be a zero-sum game into a non-zero sum game.

• I propose the co-development approach as an

alternative to “stay-at-home” and other strategies for managing the international mobility of health professionals from poor to rich countries

The Scale of the Problem: Selected SSA Countries, 2000

• 1. Table 1: Emigration Rates (ER)– The

international mobility of physicians and nurses compared with All Professionals

• 2. The effect on the human resource

capacity of SSA health systems Table 2: ER for Physicians Table 3: ER for Nurses

Dimensions of the Problem

• 1. Human resource
• 2. PHC Equity
• 3. Human security
• 4. Human rights
• 5. Economic
• 6. Political

Policy Responses

• 1. Developing Countries

Restrictive policies Retention policies Reparation policies Skills substitution policies Education sector & Econ. development policies

Policy Responses (cntd.)

• 2. Collaborative Policy Responses:

International Organizations and Developing countries

Return migration programs Diaspora engagement programs

Policy Responses (cntd.)

• 3. Collaborative policy responses:

developed and developing countries

Ethical recruitment

Bilateral Agreement

Limitations of Policy Responses

• 1. Restrictive policies

Generally ineffective in reducing the negative effects of international migration

• f health professionals on the human

resource capacity of health systems Raises human rights issues

Limitations (cntd)

• 2. Incentive-based retention schemes

Aid-funded retention schemes are usually success stories; but they lack domestic financial sustainability when foreign aid comes to an end

• 3. Reparation policies

Denounced as another form of taxation Difficult to implement Raises human rights issues

Limitations (cntd.)

• 4. Skill-substitution strategies

Promotes better fit between population health needs and workforce skills Creation of a cadre of health workers whose qualification is a disincentive to emigrate Workforce-deskilling Reinforcement of a two-tiered healthcare workforce

Limitations (cntd)

• 5. Return migration strategies

A popular brain-drain reversal and brain

circulation strategy, particularly when the return is resource value adding But benefits are not clear-cut - depend upon motives or intentions, time pattern, timing, nature

• f return, and conditions at home

Largely funded by international aid agencies – raises questions of ownership, and therefore long- term viability and sustainability

Limitations (cntd.)

• 6. Ethical Recruitment (Codes of practice)
• Instrumental in focusing attention on ethical and

labor rights issues involved in health worker migration

• Not a treaty and therefore not legally-binding

Government recruitment agencies may comply; but for private ones compliance is discretionary

Limitations (cntd.)

• 7. Diaspora engagement policy

Focuses mainly upon financial remittances flows for “productive” investment purposes Largely ignores technology transfer, trade, investment, and other channels through which the diaspora can and in some cases does transfer value-adding development resources from rich to poor countries without necessarily returning home physically and permanently

Co-development: turning a zero-sum game into a non-zero-sum game

1. Definition of co-development

An emerging policy approach at both the EU, and global levels to managing migration flows from poor to wealthy countries in a manner that produces outcomes in which:

destination countries meet their labor needs from these flows through effective integration of immigrants,

• rigin countries gain from migration through brain gain

circulation, circular migration, trade, investment, technology, and financial flows Immigrants improve their economic and social welfare

Co-development as a strategy to manage health worker migration

1. Evolution of concept:

• EU’S strategic thinking in the international development

cooperation field

• Sami Nair (1997) introduced the concept into European

discourse on immigration policy to link migration and development in a way not always explicitly stated before

• Initially implemented as a migration control strategy -

limiting development aid to those countries willing to implement policies to control irregular migration outflows and re-integrate repatriated migrants

• Shorthand for a balanced and comprehensive approach to

managing international migration flows

Co-development at the global level

1. Adoption of the co-development approach by UN, IOM, ILO, OECD, WB,AU

• Offers both destination and origin countries a new

approach to the policy question: How can the migration of skilled and highly skilled labor from poor to wealthy countries be effectively managed so as to maximize benefits and reduce the negative effects and impacts on poor countries?

• Endorsed as a concept that provides a common

understanding and organizing principles for a planned, balanced, and comprehensive approach to the management of international migration from developing to OECD countries

• “Mobility”, which does not imply the notion of “brain drain”

replaces the word “migration” in the migration and development policy research agenda

Basic Principles of the Co- development strategy

• 1. Migrants are central actors in the

development of destination and origin countries and their contributions should be recognized, reinforced encouraged, and promoted

• 2. Integration at destination and

development at origin

• 3. Mutuality of benefits and risks

Basic Principles (cntd)

4. Transforming brain out flow into brain inflow` 5. Breaking the monopoly of wealthy countries’ domestic agenda over integration policy 6. Gender mainstreaming 7. The rights of immigrants 8. Human resource development 9. Coherence of policy and action

• 10. Cooperation, partnership, and dialogue

Policy Areas for Co-development Programming

1. Integration at destination a) Effective integration of immigrants is the critical determinant of their capacity to simultaneously contribute to the destination country’s prosperity, engage in the development of their country of

• rigin, and improve their socioeconomic

welfare independently of government transfers b) Dominant integration paradigms Cultural Assimilation Multiculturalism Economic (Labor market) assimilation

Integration and destination (cntd.) c) The co-development approach to immigrant integration: shifts the integration paradigm from exclusion to inclusion by emphasizing the holistic concept of immigrant integration A balancing of rights and obligations Capacity building of immigrants Protection of human rights An inclusive process, which flows from the totality of policies and practices….

• 2. Development at Origin: The Diaspora Option

a) Evolved largely from diaspora-led homeland development initiatives b) Emerged in the 1990s as a brain gain strategy that differs from the return and “stay-at-home” options in the sense that it does not aim at the physical repatriation

• f poor countries’ nationals living in rich

countries, and that migration generates significant net positive externalities of which origin countries should position themselves to take advantage

Diaspora Option (cntd.)

c) Fundamental Premises Individuals thrive in an environment that enables them to develop their technical and professional capabilities further through collaborative activities, knowledge and information sharing, research, networking, and strategic

• alliances. Industrial countries tend to

provide such an environment for diasporas, thereby adding value to their technical and professional capabilities in ways that their home countries cannot

Diaspora Option (cntd)

• Practicing diaspora health professionals (for

example) are an active part of the health worker brain drain that represents a successful part of the health professionals’ brain gain. They are an extension of the health workforce in their country of

• rigin, and therefore connected to two health

systems and two health environments at the same

• time. This makes them stakeholders in both

simultaneously.

• The most important asset for the future

development of poor countries connected to international migration is the human and financial resources scattered in their diaspora communities

Preconditions for co-development

1. In Destination Countries

• Increase policy and institutional coherence at all levels
• Engagement with diaspora associations/organizations

without co-opting them into agendas not their own

• Financial and technical support for diaspora

associations/organizations

• Inclusion of diaspora associations/organizations in the

policy-making process to improve immigrant integration

• utcomes locally and nationally
• Institutionalization of the Diaspora option into development

cooperation policy and practice to improve the development effectiveness of policy outcomes on the ground in developing countries

• Co-financing co-development projects in diaspora

homeland

2. In Origin Countries

Institutionalization of the Diaspora Option in

• rder to:

Create an environment conducive to co- development projects and programs Facilitate partnerships between diaspora

• rganizations, national, regional and local

governments, private sector, civil society, and academic institutions in sectors that diaspora resources can add significant value to new and existing initiatives

3. Between Destination and Origin Countries

Bilateral and multilateral agreements on co-development activities (e.g. France and Mali) International consultation Dialogue Partnership

Co-development in Practice

1. France-Mali Co-development Program, 2003-2008 Objective: “Facilitating the exchange of initiatives and resources related to migrant workers or the development of their country of

• rigin”

Components Co-financing of local development and enterprises projects (Euro 4,000 – 7,000) in Mali, initiated by Malian migrants living in France Technical advice to Malian Diaspora

• rganizations on conducting feasibility

studies for establishing enterprises in Mali, and in project monitoring and evaluation Social and cultural exchanges

2. IOM MIDA Program: The “Mother” of all co- development projects

Description

• A capacity building program, whose aim is to transfer

the skills of the African Diaspora back to the continent by helping to mobilize competencies acquired by African Nationals abroad for the benefit of Africa’s development

• MIDA also involves local authorities and SMEs in

receiving and origin countries to foster circular migration and investments in migrants’ home communities

How MIDA works

Virtual return projects: Long-distance learning (health & education) Short-term assignments Long-tern return Twinning of institutions On-going MIDA Projects Mitigating the brain outflow from health systems in a number of African countries (e.g. Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia) Government capacity building and reconstruction with the Sierra Leonean and Ghanaian Diasporas Mobilizing Ethiopian and Ghanaian Diasporas in Italy Micro-enterprise development for Guinean women Mobilizing the diaspora for reconstruction in the Great Lakes Region

Is Co-development a new theory of development?

No, in my opinion it is not a new theory of

development Does it replace aid flows? No. But it can help to make foreign aid more development effective on the ground

An international approach to economic

development that complements development co-operation programs

Conclusion

• The co-development approach:
• Is not the magic wand for policy makers in destination

countries to reap the economic benefits of international migration without worrying about immigrants’ human rights, including the right to secure and hold employment commensurate with their qualification and experience

• Does not provide developing countries with the magic wand for

all their development problems

• But it does provide policy tools for turning what is traditionally

thought of as a zero-sum game into a non-zero-sum game resulting in “triple” win outcomes for the main actors affected by international migration: destination countries, origin countries, and immigrants themselves