Diasporas, Brain Drain and Return


by Assouman Yao Honoré

The diaspora, or more specifically the African diasporas, have been the focus of international attention for some time. Indeed these diasporas represent a patrimony of intelligence, made up of intellectuals, professional men and women, and university students who could be put to the service of the development of African nations and the entire African continent.

This new vision is shared by all: by the African states, representatives of the diaspora, and the international community.


The African states

Let us begin with the states. In the past, African states at times took a hostile attitude towards their expatriate nationals. Nevertheless today it appears that these same states are beginning to realize the important potential represented by the diaspora in the economic development of their countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

It is perhaps not generally known that over the past year Nigerian president
President OLUSEGUN OBASANJO of the republic of Nigeria (www.nigeria.gov.ng)
Obassandjo has been travelling extensively, from Africa to America, Europe to Asia, to meet professional men and women, scholars and intellectuals who have left Nigeria to live abroad. His purpose is to try to convince them to return to their homeland and put their capacities to the service of the nation. As a result of this resurgence of interest in the diaspora, the Nigerian Senate passed a law in July which abolished a measure whereby nationals who had become citizens of other countries would lose their original citizenship. This was intended to encourage the greatest number of Nigerians to return to their country to participate in its development.

Keen interest in this phenomenon is also at the heart of the policy of South African president Tabo Mbeki. In fact the president is promoting the creation of agencies both in Europe and the United States provided with veritable data banks to gather information on the professional profiles of South Africans living abroad. The qualifications of expatriates in the sectors of the new technologies and research are particularly sought for they may be directly applied to South Africa's new development programmes.

As concerns the Ivory Coast, president Laurent Gbagbo, well aware of the
Laurent Gbabo, President of the Ivory Coast
importance of the diaspora, has created a special department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs entirely dedicated to nationals living abroad. He has also appointed ambassadors in various G8 countries (such as Italy and the United States) who belong to the diaspora. In addition, Gbagbo is also promoting an international conference in Abidjan on the development of the Ivory Coast and has appealed to all nationals scattered around the world to participate. Finally, the president is launching a strategy to encourage the return of members of the diaspora including very attractive incentives such as, for example, loans for the purchase of housing.

In addition to Nigeria, South Africa, and the Ivory Coast, other African countries such as Mali, Senegal, and Uganda are working on strategic ways and means of drawing upon the potential of their diasporas. These countries are fully aware that the economic and financial impact of the diasporas cannot be overlooked: not only to support exportation, but also in terms of financial resources and the transformation of knowledge as capital into economic capital. Initiatives in this regard have been varied, ranging from a census of the diaspora conducted in western countries, to the creation of databases.


Representatives of the diaspora

Members of the diaspora themselves also see their role in a new light. Indeed over recent years, as pointed out by Tana Worku Anglana in her article, there has been a proliferation of initiatives and systems through the creation of "knowledge networks" which specifically link members of the diaspora to one another, and also to their native countries, thus fostering the exchange of learning and skills.
A second trend has emerged concerning the African diaspora, as noted by Ivory Coast ambassador to Italy Zady Gbaka Richard in an interview, that is, of a growing self-awareness among its members. Evidence in recent years has shown that African intellectuals are strengthening their ties to their native countries, stressing their dual identity (that is, of being both African and intellectuals in contact with western culture).

Precisely because they see themselves as valuable elements of society, members of the diaspora are reflecting upon what form a return to their native countries might take, so that they may contribute to the development of the African continent, thus converting their knowledge into economic capital. Today more than ever, these Africans feel they have a mission to fulfil for Africa and that they are being called to do something, most urgently.


The international community

The international community is far from indifferent to the topic of the diaspora. Over the years it has been mobilizing with networks of the diaspora for the promotion of initiatives to get involved in the process of development in Africa. Among the undertakings being launched is the DDNA (Digital Diaspora Network for Africa), a project conceived by the Information Communication Technology Task Force of the United Nations in a joint undertaking with the non-profit organization Digital Partners in Seattle and CERFE of Rome. This is a project for the creation of a network of experts and entrepreneurs in computer technology who are members of the African diaspora living in Europe and North America. Its purpose is to promote the development of the sector on the African continent.


Also the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women) and other UN agencies are currently promoting similar programs to involve the diaspora in the development of the African continent.


The return

Nevertheless, despite these three positive trends mentioned above the question still remains: but why is it so difficult for Africans to return to their countries?
There are some specific reasons among the factors most commonly cited when considering why intellectuals and professional men and women do not return to their native countries.

A first set of reasons is related to the social and political conditions existing on the
Grace, Nairobi, Kenya
African continent. According to this perspective, the economic and political crises which Africa has faced in the last decades have seriously dissuaded many emigrants from returning to their countries.

Other authors stress the importance of the conditions of access to job markets which make it difficult for the returning expatriats to find space to apply their capacities. Therefore those who return would risk to fail in finding a job position adeguate to their qualifications and expectations.

Lastly, there are those that point on the importance of the force of attraction of the host country.

This is particularly true for students educated in western universities, for whom after they graduate the decision to return to their native countries is mainly conditioned by their experiences while studying in the foreign country and the employment opportunities, expected or real, of job markets both at home and in their host countries.

These then are some of the factors commonly mentioned in terms of the difficult return of members of the diaspora to their homelands. Yet perhaps the situation is deeper and more complex than what might appear at first sight. There are mechanisms, and certainly not only economic ones, responsible for creating in the African continent the paradox of lack of qualified human resources and, simultaneously, great intellectual emigration. Thus often the question of the diaspora is presented as a cut-and-dry choice between "usefulness" and "waste". Nevertheless it seems increasingly more difficult to draw a sharp distinction between return or non-return in the light of the vast range of options open today, for example, in the forms of rapid transportation and the Internet.

Most likely to truly understand the diaspora it is necessary to seek beyond easy formulas to the real phenomena, in all their subtleties, which compose it. And this is what the reflections introduced and proposed in this issue hope to accomplish.

This second issue of the e-magazine, as Assouman Yao Honoré illustrates in the editorial, is mainly dedicated to the african diaspora theme. In this issue are also presented, even if to a lesser extent, articles that refer to the modernity and the african societies themes.

Diaspora theme is dealt triyng to underline the potentialities represented by this phenomenon in terms of economic growth and of african countries development, rather than linger exclusively on the negative aspects linked to the human capital drain.

This theme is approached in the article written by Tana Worku Anglana, that draws an outline of the new migrations coming from the african countries, through a tematic path focused on the intellectual capital present in the migration flow, on the brain drain and on the return.

The interview with the Ivory Coast Ambassador in Italy, Richard Gbaka Zady, edited by Alfonso Alfonsi and Assouman Yao Honoré, clearly illustrates the position of an influential member of the African diaspora on the responsabilities of the African people who decided to live and work abroad and on the richness that they can represent for their countries.

The diaspora theme is also dealt in the article written by Daniele Mezzana, concerning the "Academy of Sciences, Cultures and Arts of Africa and of the African Diasporas" (ASCAD) project in the Ivory Coast, whose purpose is to become a scientific and cultural point of reference for the intellectuals and for the scholars who live in the African continent, but even for those belonging to the African diaspora abroad.

The article written by Alfonso Alfonsi describes the Digital Diaspora Network for Africa (DDNA) project, whose aim is to mobilize the intellectual capital belonging to the African diaspora, triyng to bridge the digital divide that is affecting the African continent.

Lastly, the diaspora theme is approached by the two columns. The first one (by Daniele Mezzana) is dedicated to the diaspora networks in the Internet, while the second one (by Renato D'Arca) is focused on the job opportunities in Africa for the diaspora members who are willing to go back to their countries, or to give a contribution to their development, even if they still live in a host country.

The theme of modernity in African countries is the subject of the interesting and uncommon essay by Abram de Swaan, focused on the role played by the modern media in the social construction of the "Hutu" and "Tutsi" identities and in feeding the conflit that ended with the genocide in Rwanda.

The relationship between modernity and African traditional religions is presented by Ogotemmeli in the leaderette, highlighting the prejudice linked with the wide diffusion of animism in the African countries.

The same theme is at the core of the article written by Daniele Mezzana, dedicated to the setting out of a research path that will be dealt even in the following issues of the e-magazine.

The essay written by Abdou Maliq Simone straddles the modernity and the african societies themes, dealing with the sustainability of the urban dimention in African countries.