Africa (sub-Saharan)

Beyond intraregional migration, sub-Saharan Africans migrate to North Africa, Europe, North America, and beyond. The research offered here focuses generally on two aspects of sub-Saharan migration: the outcomes for these migrants and their children once they have settled in their countries of destination, the United States among them, and the roles that diasporas and development policies can play in the economic improvement of these African nations.

A woman in Nigeria smiles while using her mobile phone

Reports

Leaving No One Behind: Inclusive Fintech for Remittances

Remittances are a vital lifeline for migrants’ families around the world and an important source of revenue for many low- and middle-income countries, especially in times of crisis. As more people turn to digital financial technologies for these money transfers, this shift holds the potential to shake up the rigid remittance industry and boost development benefits. But it also brings new challenges, as this report explores.

Motorcyclists and pedestrians travel a road between buildings in Arua, Uganda

Reports

Migration and Displacement in Secondary Cities: Insights from Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda

Small and mid-sized cities are some of the fastest growing in many parts of the world, including sub-Saharan Africa. Yet life in these cities can present a variety of challenges for migrants and displaced persons. This report examines these challenges in secondary cities in Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda, and how local, national, and civil-society actors are working to address them.

Recent Activity

Multimedia March 2, 2021 Who Manages Climate Migration? Evolving Global Governance	Multimedia February 5, 2021 The Many Possible Futures of Climate-Linked Migration
Policy Briefs February 2021 Rewiring Migrant Returns and Reintegration after the COVID-19 Shock By Camille Le Coz and Kathleen Newland	Articles January 21, 2021 Africa Moves Towards Intracontinental Free Movement for Its Booming Population By Samuel Okunade
Reports December 2020 How Will International Migration Policy and Sustainable Development Affect Future Climate-Related Migration? By Robert McLeman	Multimedia November 25, 2020 One Billion Climate Migrants? Not So Fast
Articles November 13, 2020 In Relatively Peaceful Tanzania, Climate Change and Migration Can Spur Conflict By Julia M. Blocher and Emmanuel O. Kileli	Multimedia October 21, 2020 Human Smuggling in an Age of Pandemic

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Reports November 2008 Demographic and Human-Capital Trends in Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa By Wolfgang Lutz, Warren Sanderson, Sergei Scherbov and Samir K.C.	Reports November 2008 The Growing Global Demand for Students as Skilled Migrants By Lesleyanne Hawthorne
Policy Briefs September 2008 Learning by Doing: Experiences of Circular Migration By Kathleen Newland, Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Aaron Terrazas	Policy Briefs July 2008 Hometown Associations: An Untapped Resource for Immigrant Integration? By Aaron Terrazas, Jamie Durana and Will Somerville
Reports April 2008 Dual Citizenship in the Age of Mobility By Thomas Faist and Jürgen Gerdes	Policy Briefs June 2007 Leveraging Remittances for Development By Dilip Ratha
Policy Briefs April 2007 Circular Migration and Development: Trends, Policy Routes, and Ways Forward By Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Kathleen Newland	Reports September 2006 Remittances and Development: Trends, Impacts, and Policy Options, A Review of the Literature By Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza

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Top Ten

December 12, 2017

Increased Focus on Forced Return of Migrants and Asylum Seekers Puts Many in Peril

Governments on the receiving end of migrants and refugees reinforced their commitment to returns in 2017, sending or coercing migrants to move back to impoverished or violent homelands. The Dominican Republic pushed out some 70,000 Haitians and native born of Haitian descent, while more than 500,000 Afghans left Iran and Pakistan. Though many of these migrants chose to return, in practice the line between forced and voluntary returns is blurry.

Feature

October 24, 2017

Spiraling Violence and Drought Drive Refugee Crisis in South Sudan

Nearly 4 million South Sudanese have been driven from their homes by violence or food insecurity since late 2013, roughly half seeking refuge in neighboring countries. Drought and conflict have converged in the young country to fuel one of the world's most severe humanitarian emergencies. This article examines refugee flows from South Sudan, underlying drivers, and regional and international responses to the crisis.

Spotlight

May 3, 2017

Sub-Saharan African Immigrants in the United States

The population of sub-Saharan African immigrants in the United States has grown rapidly in recent decades, from 130,000 in 1980 to 1.7 million in 2015. The current flow of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa consists of skilled professionals, individuals seeking reunification with relatives, and refugees from war-torn countries. This article provides the latest data on immigrants from the region in the United States.

Feature

March 16, 2017

Straddling Two Worlds: Highly Skilled Migrants from Senegambia and Switzerland

In recent years, Switzerland has become a popular destination for highly skilled migrants, including from the Senegambia region of West Africa. Meanwhile, migration also flows the opposite way with Swiss migrants heading to Senegal and The Gambia. This article compares and contrasts the experiences of these migrants at destination as well as their motivations to migrate and attitudes toward remittances and citizenship.

Feature

February 3, 2017

With Millions Displaced by Climate Change or Extreme Weather, Is There a Role for Labor Migration Pathways?

Climate-related displacement is not hypothetical: An average of 21.5 million people per year have been displaced since 2008 by natural disasters, and thousands more have fled slow-onset environmental hazards. While migration can serve as a safety valve to adapt to changing conditions, few orderly, legal channels exist for climate migrants (also known as environmental migrants), as this article explores.

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs

June 2023

Linking Migrant Reintegration Assistance and Development Goals

When migrants return to their countries of origin, their reintegration is often most successful in communities that are welcoming, have functional public services, and where livelihood opportunities are available. In recognition of these facts, there has been a growing push to connect reintegration assistance programs with efforts to support local development. This issue brief explores common approaches to building such links.

Reports

June 2023

Building Meaningful Refugee Participation into Protection Policymaking

One promising—but often underutilized—element of addressing the world’s urgent humanitarian protection needs is meaningfully engaging refugees in policymaking processes. As this report highlights, consultations, advisory roles, and leadership and staff positions can help ensure refugees’ knowledge and expertise are reflected in policy responses to displacement. The study also examines common limitations and ways to make engagement more impactful.

Expert Q&A, Audio

March 6, 2023

Climate Migration to Cities: Does the Move to Urban Areas Reduce Risk?

Are migrants, including those moving for reasons connected to climate change, likely to fare much better in the city when it comes to climate impacts? Tune in to this episode of our podcast, Changing Climate, Changing Migration, featuring noted climate expert Neil Adger of the University of Exeter, and find out.

Articles

March 1, 2023

Efforts to Manage Climate Migration Are Slowly Growing, but Their Focus Is Often Indirect

Can haphazard, unplanned climate displacement be turned into voluntary, safe migration? Projects explicitly aimed at addressing internal and international climate migration are rare, but development organizations increasingly are turning their attention to supporting them. This article catalogues climate mobility projects around the world and examines their primary goals, whether to support the movement or stay of people or help at destination.

Reports

February 2023

External Processing: A Tool to Expand Protection or Further Restrict Territorial Asylum?

As asylum systems in many countries have come under considerable strain in recent years, there has been renewed interest in external processing—that is, conducting part or all of an asylum procedure outside a destination country’s territory. Some countries have pursued this to deter spontaneous arrivals, but as this report explores, others are using various external processing models to expand access to protection.

Articles

February 2, 2023

Migrants in Need Report Barriers to Assistance and Fragile Trust in Humanitarian Organizations

Many refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants do not trust humanitarian actors, are unable to access assistance, or did not have support when they needed it. This article, featuring findings from a large-scale survey involving more than 16,000 migrants in countries around the world, provides an overview of these challenges.

Articles

January 18, 2023

Amid Record Drought and Food Insecurity, East Africa’s Protracted Humanitarian Crisis Worsens

Catastrophic drought has thrust tens of millions of people in East Africa into acute food insecurity, raising the specter of famine. The extreme weather crisis, which follows years of conflict and economic disaster, has compounded long-running humanitarian challenges affecting refugees and internally displaced people, as this article explains.

Expert Q&A, Audio

December 15, 2022

A Century of Climate Migration Upheaval? An Audacious Prediction for the Future

As the planet’s temperature warms, award-winning environmental journalist Gaia Vince thinks humanity is facing a chaotic century of mass migration spurred by climate change? In this episode of Changing Climate, Changing Migration, she contemplates a future in which hundreds of millions of people move from one part of the globe to another.

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