This post was originally published via the Open University's Migration for Inclusive African Growth (MIAG) research project. Learn more about MIAG here. Read the original event posting on Eventbrite.

Does migration within and to Africa contribute to more sustainable and inclusive growth on the continent and, if so, to what extent? Do migrant professionals and entrepreneurs occupy specific roles or stimulate the growth of African economies in particular ways? How can policymakers and practitioners harness this knowledge to promote more inclusive growth? These are just some of the questions the Migration for Inclusive African Growth (MIAG) team have been trying to answer over the past few years.

MIAG was inspired by the wave of economic dynamism sweeping Africa and the challenge it presented for how to avoid elite-based, resource-driven growth so as to open opportunities for all in society. The idea of fairer distribution extends beyond just monetary gains to non-monetary aspects, such as improved access to social provision and welfare, infrastructure, services and strengthened and accountable political institutions. This is the concept of Inclusive Growth that, while gaining widespread popularity amongst major development actors such as the OECD, United Nations and the African Development Bank, remains theoretically underdeveloped and empirical studies lacking substantive evidence or concentrate on isolated cases.

Webinar Details

Inclusive Growth and Migration

Wednesday 3 November 2021 14:30 – 16:00 (GMT)

The concept of Inclusive Growth has become a framing concept in development policy yet has only recently been subjected to analytical attention. It refers broadly to growth that is sustained and broad-based but also factors in the ‘non-economic’ dimensions of that growth. Unfortunately, there is a tendency to rely on traditional growth indicators to interrogate growth patterns, while migration has rarely been analysed as part of these patterns. Where studies have linked inclusive growth and migration, they tend to focus on remittances as the driver of growth. Yet, inclusive growth offers great potential as an analytical benchmark against which growth trajectories can be assessed.

In this first seminar in the series, Prof. Giles Mohan will lead a thought-provoking conversation as the panel will discuss how inclusive growth can be framed, how it can enrich discussions around migration and development, and how MIAG’s work can inform more effective policymaking.

Chair: Professor Giles Mohan, The Open University

Panel

Dr Dilip Ratha, Head of KNOMAD and Lead Economist, Migration and Remittances, Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank

Professor Heaven Crawley, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University

Dr Oliver Bakewell, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester

Bios

Giles Mohan is Professor of International Development at the Open University. His research focuses on the challenges facing Africa he is particularly interested in ‘new’ actors in African development and the threats and opportunities they offer for the continent. This has led to work on structural adjustment, participatory development, diasporas and development, and most recently China’s engagement with Africa. Funded by a series of grants from the Economic and Social Research Council his recent projects have looked at Chinese business migrants in Africa and the impacts of China’s oil investments in Africa. Professor Mohan has also worked with the BBC on TV programmes about development, as well as working with African and international NGOs on various capacity-building and training initiatives.

Dr Dilip Ratha is head of KNOMAD and lead economist, Migration and Remittances, Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank. He is a thought leader on migration, remittances, and innovative financing for development, including diaspora bonds, future-flow securitization, and shadow sovereign credit ratings. He was an invited TEDGlobal speaker in 2014 – his TED talk, with over 1.45 million views, has inspired many start-ups. He is the Founder of KNOMAD, Migrating out of Poverty Research Program Consortium, and African Institute of Remittances. Prior to the World Bank, he has worked at Credit Agricole Indosuez W.I. Carr Securities (Hong Kong and Singapore), and the Policy Group (Delhi), and taught at Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) and Indian Statistical Institute (Delhi). He has a Ph.D. in economics from Indian Statistical Institute.

Professor Heaven Crawley joined the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR) at Coventry University in September 2014 from where she leads MIDEQ, the world’s largest migration research project focusing on relationships between migration, inequality and development in the context of the Global South. Educated at the Universities of Sussex (1989-1994) and Oxford (1995-1999), Heaven has more than 30 years' experience of undertaking research on international migration in a wide range of institutional settings. She has published extensively on a wide range of asylum and migration issues including the drivers of migration and migrant decision-making, gender issues in forced migration, refugee and migrant rights, the experiences of children and young people on the move, attitudes towards migration and migrants and politics of migration policy-making.

Dr Oliver Bakewell is Reader in Migration Studies at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester. His work focuses on the intersections between migration and mobility and processes of development and change, with a focus on Africa. Prior to joining GDI, he spent over a decade at the International Migration Institute at the University of Oxford. He has worked for many years with migrants and refugees both as a researcher and as a practitioner with a range of development and humanitarian NGOs.