How Africa Can Harness and Benefit from its Diaspora Talent

During a recent question-and-answer session in Parliament, Cameroon’s Prime Minister, Ephraim Inoni, addressed the brain drain phenomenon in Cameroon.

According to Cameroon Tribune, the Prime Minister “acknowledged that the government was aware of the exodus of Cameroonian intellectuals, technicians and medical officials to work in foreign countries” and reveled that the government  of Cameroon “was working towards organising a Day for the Diaspora to enable Cameroonians abroad effectively contribute to the development of the country”.  

Although a Day for the Diaspora is a welcome development, the evidence suggests that there is a complete lack of innovation and creativity in Cameroon’s approach to the issues of Diaspora engagement and/or return and preventing the flight of human resources from the country. The problem will not be solved by ad hoc initiatives such as conferences whose final resolutions will most likely end up in a paper pile, but by simple institutional strategies and policies that will stymie the unrelenting exodus of scarce talent and also attract professionals abroad. For this to happen, however, the real reasons for brain drain must be clearly identified.

True, there are indeed Cameroonians who have left the country because of “[a lack of] job satisfaction, inadequate infrastructure and lack of proper understanding between some local employers and employees” as the PM stated in Parliament. However, recent research on the brain drain phenomenon in Cameroon, along with annecdotal evidence, indicate that the reasons for the exodus of talent from Cameroon are mainly systemic and political (see the Brain Drain section of this blog for related articles).

This lack of innovation and vision is also evident in the government’s inability or unwillingness to engage members of the Cameroon Diaspora community on issues of national development. As I pointed out in my Success Story Magazine interview, the government’s continued inability to fully engage the Cameroonian Diaspora is due to the nefarious influence of partisan politics (which leads regime officials to divide Cameroonians in the Diaspora into two groups; unpatriotic “opposants” on the one hand, and patriotic pro-government individuals and groups on the other), a complete absence of political will and a shocking lack of vision. However,as examples from elsewhere in Africa have shown, those countries that have been willing to rise above politics and partisanship when dealing with their respective Diaspora communities have emerged as winners in the "Brain Gain" game.

In its September 2003 issue, eAfrica journal, published an interesting article titled “22 Good Ideas for Using the Diaspora”. I am reposting the article here to shed more light on possible measures that African countries can put in place to make the African Diaspora a veritable partner for development. 

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HERE are the best ideas we’ve found to get Africans living abroad involved in developing their home country.

Embassies and Emails

1. Know your resources.
Each African country’s embassies abroad should compile a list of key academics, professionals and business people operating in that country, as well as social and sporting fan clubs. These lists should be co-ordinated in a central database, and regular communications should be sent via email to help expatriates share information about news from home, business opportunities, permanent job openings, and development projects needing short-term assistance.

2. Slay the occasional goat.
Embassies should keep fellow nationals in touch with each other by hosting occasional get-togethers. They can tap visiting sports stars and musicians for shows that promote their countries. These occasions provide opportunities to highlight projects where members of the diaspora can volunteer their skills or contribute financially.

3. Boost embassy budgets and staff.
Most African embassies do not have dedicated trade-support staff and almost none has staff to support the diaspora. This gap should be filled and embassies properly funded to support outreach and database activities.

Adverts and academics

4. Promote Africa as a tourist destination.
Create an advertising campaign under the African Union to encourage expatriates and those of African descent to take holidays in Africa. In addition to the continent’s natural beauty and wildlife, emphasise the historical and culturally significant attractions such as the slave forts in West Africa, Robben Island, Timbuktu and Great Zimbabwe.

5. Give incentives to bring new faces to Africa.
Offer coupons or frequent flier miles to every visitor who provides the email addresses or contact details of friends. Send promotions to those friends and greater mileage awards if those friends actually travel to Africa.

6. Use positive video on airplane flights.
Run video profiles of African successes on flights to and from African destinations to counter the generally negative perceptions of Africa abroad.

7. Utilise alumni associations.
Keep track of Africa’s best and brightest through their alma maters. The Association for Higher Education and Development, for example, is an association of Ethiopian academics abroad who have created a foundation to improve their country’s higher education.

8. Develop an African Peace Corps.
Offer opportunities for young people from the diaspora to come to Africa to re-connect with their heritage and contribute to development projects.

9. Look for home-grown employees first.
Encourage businesses to recruit from the diaspora when looking for top skilled professionals and make it easy for them to use embassy databases and staff in recruitment efforts.

10. Advertise vacancies abroad timeously.
Ensure that copies of government personnel adverts and privatisation and tendering notices are sent to embassies and posted on government and embassy websites. Email such notices to interested Africans living or working overseas, so they can apply in good time.

11. Share your know-how.
African scientists and medical specialists living overseas should be encouraged to share their expertise through teaching sabbaticals or by posting their papers and advertising upcoming conferences on their specialities on websites. The South African Network of Skills Abroad is one such enterprise. It has a database of more than 2,000 skilled South African professionals who have emigrated and encourages them to lend their skills to advancing scientific developments back home. Similar efforts are underway by the Association of Kenyans Abroad and the Association of Nigerians Abroad.

12. Expand the development focus at First World universities.
Most African studies departments in the developed world have better funding and access to books than African universities. But they focus on history and identity with little emphasis on practical challenges Africa now faces. Work through African universities to press for an expanded development and business focus and use the diaspora to help fund access to those programmes for African students.

13. Expand use of digital instruction.
Most of Africa’s best minds in engineering and the sciences have left for the developed world. The African Virtual University uses satellite transmission to permit lecturers in the developed world to teach students on African campuses where there are shortages of instructors in technical subjects. Expand the programme to more African countries and enlist more lecturers from the diaspora.

Cut the red tape

14. Simplify visa procedures.
Make it easier for non-citizen members of the diaspora to gain permanent residence back in the country of their ancestry. Adopt simpler procedures for business visas and work permits in all areas where Africa has skills shortages.

15. Offer dual citizenship to returning families.
Many countries are examining how to make it easier for those living abroad with foreign-born children or spouses to return home. Dual citizenship would facilitate the freedom of movement of Africans between developed countries and the continent allowing skills to move as opportunities arise. It will also help prevent well-educated children born abroad from losing touch with Africa.

16. Make Africa retirement friendly.
Make it easy for members of the diaspora, including those without African citizenship, to bring their skills and financial assets back to the continent when they retire. Make it easy to acquire retirement visas and transfer funds, and make it easy for foreign medical schemes to cover medical costs in Africa.

Network in the North

17. Organise the diaspora to press for change.
Latin America has successfully used its diaspora, churches and non-government organisations to create substantial political support to change certain US policies. African Americans similarly played a crucial role in pushing for greater funding for HIV/Aids. Africa could organise the diaspora to press for trade concessions, debt relief and more funding and participation in African conflict resolution, which many developed nations shy away from.

18. Open formal channels into the African Union.
The channels for diaspora participation in the AU and Nepad need to be clear and efficient to bring expertise into African ventures and to allow influential non-governmental groups in the diaspora to lobby for African interests in the developed world. The Western Hemisphere African Diaspora Network – which raises funds and facilitates participation by people of African descent on the continent – proposed making the diaspora the ‘sixth region’ to complement the five existing geographic regional Communities in the AU.

19. Facilitate remittances.
Governments should improve their banking infrastructure and laws to make it is as easy and inexpensive as possible to bring foreign funds back into their countries. Transaction charges should be minimised. Computer recordkeeping should be improved to fight fraud while foreign-currency accounts should be made easier to open.

20. Create safe Africa investment funds.
Remittances are sent home to support families, but the major investments of wealthy émigrés remain abroad. Create government-backed project investment funds to enable socially conscious but safe investment in Nepad and other African development projects. Also open the African Development Bank to direct private investment.

21. Create remittance backed bonds.
Because remittances are a large and reliable source of foreign currency, they can be ‘securitised’ or used to back government bonds. Brazil created such a remittance backed government bond that enabled the government to raise $300 million at preferential interest rates.

22. Use African expertise.
Press aid agencies to ‘untie’ aid and utilise African doctors, engineers and professionals rather than ‘importing’ such expertise at much greater cost from the developed world.

Graphic courtesy of eAfrica.

Comments

[idil]

its truly sad that it has come to this-selling africa to africans. I think the main issue regarding the brain drain is the collapse of rule of law in virtually all of the african states. Africans in the diaspora want rule of law, accountability, human rights, and most of all, Peace! Anyway excellent blog brother!

[Fon]

There is one simple thing for all African governments to do to attracts its citizens frm abroad The Rule of law in their respective countries. It does not need conferences identfying skill levels proposing job opportunities or simply trying to appeal to their patriotic insincts.Soecially mentionning patriotisim is even insulting because pariotism is in the heart and not the mouth.

[V. Mungyeh]

Your conclusion hits the nail right on the head Mr. Tande. Patriotism has been interpreted especially by those who presently rule to mean unquestioning adherence to their policies. Any attempt to scrutinize policy is immediately dubbed fringe and unpatriotic.

We therefore need to kick of from a psychological transformation allowing of a plurarity of vision all in the interest of the nation. Prospects for such an utopia become so bleak especially with the presence of the Mugabes and Yaya Jamehs of the continent.

[UnitedstatesofAfrica]

Promote Africa as a tourist destination? what destination? when in Douala INTERNATIONAL aiport no one speaks English? ( mind you, it is suppose to be an international airport)? in the same douala airport, both citizens and tourists are harrassed, interrogated and robbed of their money and you want people to promote tourism in such places? and what was that about African embassies? lol. Even Africans working in African embassies in the West still haven't learned a thing or two about customer service and work ethic. They are still rude on the phone, dismissive to people and lazy when to comes to work.

Also, While diaspora Africans are exposed to more information and may hold and wield more power, most of them need to educate themselves about Africa and their identity. All they seem to do in the Western world is chase white women, toss their identities out the window and beg for eurocentric indoctrination. It's truly truly sad.

These are good points but we need to CHANGE OUR MENTALITY FIRST AND FOREMOST before Africa can see any change.

[Amosa Jumbam]

Great article. This article outlines some of the important steps that have to be taken to reach out to the African Diaspora. While these solutions are what the African givernments must do, the Diaspora also has to come up with its own solutions.

Maybe an efficient solution will involve a greater collaboration between the diaspora and the private sector in Africa without the imposing presence of our governments.

Amosa

[The SouthWesterner]

Folks, does anyone in his right mind believes the regime in place wants you back?

Think of it again. They see the diaspora as a GOLD MINE. We are their UN-DECLARED partners. We are part of the reason they are still in power, afterall our periodic WESTERN UNION cheques back has helped KILLED any desire for a REVOLUTION.

Our cheques back home put bread and butter on the table. Pay fee and rents for our love ones ETC.

Infact the status quo LOVES us, BUT , they kind of deliberately ensures our ROLE is limited to just that,doing their HEAVY LIFTING,no more no less.

If they will get their way, more and more of our brothers and sisters should come swell our community. Its their game,they set the tone and the result is what they desire.

[Tayong]

Mr Tande, good points but I may say that Africa should see all of her sons and daughters in the diaspora as a potential source of human capital and not a potential swamp of competitors , bullies or rivals.

Many are willing to return to Africa - not necessarily to their country of origin - to support Africa's development. Whilst this does not absolve African governments of the responsibility to train their workforce born and bred in the country, they can complement this with talent from the diaspora.

Those in the diaspora need to hear about the important opportunities that exist in Africa.A country like Cameroon has billion dollar companies with

1)no websites or ICT facilities but for some obscured noticeboard at their yard.
2)Jobs announcements are either oral or pasted on that obscured noticeboard one day prior to expiration date
3)Meritocary is sacrificed at the altar of scrash-my-back-I-scrash-your-own
4)Embassy-diaspora relations is cat and dog with each viewing the other as enemy
etc etc

Diasporians need to know that their input is welcome. The policy framework and the investment climate must be welcoming as one conference speaker on diaspora-Africa relations put it lately. All African citizens, whether in Africa or the diaspora, need to see an enabling environment.

Ghana is a glaring contemporary example. Most of my Ghanian classmates left for home and are making a formidable contribution to their nation building immediately Jerry Rawlings was defanged and overthrown. Undemocratic and corrupt regimes are at the core of African problems.

Hope someome somewhere is listening to you Tande. Keep blogging and kudos!
Tayong

[Innocent Ndifor Mancho]

This articles sounds like the road map to engaging with the african diaspora. Translating these ideas into action needs a revolution of the political/policy landscape.

A majority of African leaders today (maybe with the exception of Kabila)we educated in the diaspora. They were sourced from the diaspora to take up positions in the governments that emerged after independence. Today, they view the diaspora more as potential threats and rivals to their position than as partners in the development process.

When we have leaders like Mugabe, Biya, Bongo etc who are cut off from modern day reality it is difficult to envisage any meaningful change without a profound change in the ideas of the leaders.

After 10 years in power, most African leaders have lost touch with modern trends. Their ideas have become stagnant and they are more concerned with preserving their status/positions than changing the fortunes of their people. We definitely need a new class of leadership, with modern ideas, who understand today's realities and can engage modern and relevant ways to harness resources both natural and human within the national frontiers and in the diaspora to bring about change and development. Until we are able to bring that regime change in countries like Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Gabon etc we will be talking about this again in the next century.