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MigrationKey Initiatives | Resources UNDP works on migration because of the many impacts
it can have on poor people and poor countries. Some impacts may be positive
such as remittances (money sent home to support family members), or
the skills that migrants take back when they return. Some impacts may
be negative however, especially brain drain and the effect that this
can have on economic growth and the delivery of essential services.
UNDP’s work in migration helps governments to:
Migration and National Development StrategiesMigration is too important to be left out of a country’s plans for development. A strategy for migration and development is critical for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Upon request, UNDP can help countries place issues of migration at the heart of national development strategies – prioritizing skills retention, capacity development and remittances. UNDP does this by facilitating meetings of key stakeholders, and by linking countries that can learn from each other through our global network of practitioners. To underpin national strategies and understand the multi-faceted impacts of migration we need to understand who is migrating and why. This includes their gender, level and type of skills, and whether they are likely to take resources back to their countries of origin – through their own skills or investment. We need to tackle both the ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors, which tend to perpetuate the harmful brain drain that is robbing many countries of their future. UNDP is also currently working with INSTRAW to explore gender and remittances. Retaining Key SkillsAt a simple level, the permanent outward migration of skilled labour represents a direct loss of the potential of a country – whether through an impact on economic growth, or the ability of the government to deliver basic services. There are also secondary effects on output, tax revenues, and local consumption. Social capital is eroded, with other far reaching effects – for example, there are even governance implications as skilled elites can play a crucial role in holding governments to account. Countries importing skilled labour have a responsibility to explore how mechanisms can be set up to compensate developing countries for their loss of skills and potential. As poverty is a significant push factor for migration, the on-going efforts of the international community to reduce poverty should help to keep vital skills at home. However, targeted policies can also be effective. This means focusing on policies that encourage capacity retention, return migration and tap the know-how of the Diaspora. TOKTEN (Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals) is a global UNDP mechanism for tapping on expatriate nationals, who have migrated to other countries and achieved professional success abroad, and mobilizing them to undertake short-term consultancies in their countries of origin, under UN aegis. See further information through UNVs or country examples in Lebanon, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sudan, Syria, the Philippines, and Palestine. GATS Mode 4 (General Agreement on Trade & Services): Intergovernmental agreements that result in productive ‘brain gain’ and ‘brain circulation’ for the country of origin should also be prioritized. GATS Mode 4 aims to provide for greater temporary movement of people to deliver services. Progress on the GATS Mode 4 negotiations in the Doha trade round could assist developing countries to get greater benefits from the process of globalization if appropriately structured through a multilateral, intergovernmental agreement in the WTO. Similarly, national governments can engage with Diasporas to promote domestic industry and markets. RemittancesRemittances from skilled and unskilled migrants overseas provide an important source of income and help to alleviate poverty for family members left at home. But remittances cannot replace official aid or reduce the responsibilities of governments in receiving countries to provide for their citizens. Also, remittances from skilled migrants do not compensate for the loss of those skills at home. Remittances are one part of a complex balance sheet that we need to understand much better in order to assess the impact of migration on development. But the international community can and should play a role in helping ensure that existing remittances are more efficient. Developing countries and their Diasporas tell us – for example at a recent UNDP consultation on remittances in Santo Domingo – that more can be done to make remittances effective in improving living standards for families and communities at home. The Special Unit for South-South Cooperation has played a key role in supporting work that has explored the potential role of remittances in achieving the MDGs. (See UNDP Roundtable on Remittances October 2005) We should therefore work with the private sector in both sending and receiving countries to make sure that payments are facilitated rather than hindered, and if possible linked to other inclusive financial products such as savings, credit, insurance, microfinance and micropensions. Key InitiativesGlobal Migration Group (GMG) - UNDP coordinates its work on migration with other UN agencies, the World Bank and the International Organization on Migration through the Global Migration Group (GMG).
Country Initiatives
EventsPrivate Sector Forum to Explore Linkage between Remittances and Development, 8 September 2006, New York - UNDP also held a meeting with private sector stakeholders on remittances in the build up to the High Level Dialogue on Migration. See the Outcome Summary Report Regional Consultation on Migration, Remittances and Development,
27-28 July 2006, Santo Domingo ResourcesUNDP Secretary General’s paper on migration and development A
Passage to Hope: Women and International Migration Links |
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