AFRICAN DIASPORA Survey on Remittances and Skills December 2003 “Building robust and enduring productive capacity in Africa Africarecruit, Commonwealth Business Council, 18 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5LU United Kingdom Tel: +44(0) Fax: +44(0) Tel: +44(0) Fax: +44(0) Website:

Background The importance of the African Diaspora is becoming increasingly recognised. As an overview Africarecruit conducted a snap shot survey in July questionnaires were disseminated of which 173 were returned.

Background on Remittances-1 African countries are becoming more heavily reliant on the stable foreign direct investment and the increasing remittances from its indigenous population abroad as a source of finance. In 2002 remittances to Africa accounted for 15% ($12bn) of the total remittances to the developing countries ($80bn). Majority of the remittances were sent from Europe, North America and Asia reflecting the migration pattern of African’s e.g. North African’s migrating to Asia countries such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Sub Sahara African’s migrating to Europe and North America

Background on Remittances-2 Top African receiving countries are Egypt ($3.4bn), Morocco ($2.2bn), Nigeria (1.7bn), Tunisia (0.8bn). In 2002 remittances to Nigeria ($2bn) accounted for 5% of the GDP playing a large part of the economy positively helping the balance of payments.

Q1:Do you send money home ? Over three quarters of the respondents send money to their country of origin on a regular basis

Q2:On average how much do you send a month in US$ ? On average $318 a month is sent home Remittances ranged from $15- 5,000/month

Q3:What are the remittances used for? Majority of the respondent sent remittances for a combination of reasons such as responsibilities; personal consumption and investment. Very few sent money for investment alone. Other reasons included burials, charity work and mortgage repayments

Q4:Methods of Transfer A large proportion of the respondents used a combination of methods such as cash and formal channels

Background on Skills- 1 It is estimated that at least 70,000 or more highly qualified Africans leave their country of origin annually for western countries. In 2002, some 2,297 medical doctors and nurses left Zimbabwe in the first nine months, in that same year South Africa lost more than 300 specialist nurses to developed countries every month. In Ghana the ratio of doctor to people is 1:22,970 as against 1:420 in the United States and 1:810 in the United Kingdom. It is estimated that up to 68% of medical staff trained in Ghana between 1993 and 2000 have left the country

Background on Skills - 2 A survey conducted in July 2003 reported that 479,000 Zimbabweans work outside the country with 34% in the United Kingdom alone. South Africa has lost $7.8 billion in skill manpower flight since 1997.Overall the pace of Africa’s brain drain has accelerated with 23,000 academics, over 40,000 Africans with Ph.D’s and 50,000 middle and senior management personnel leaving the continent each year

Q5:Where did you do most of your schooling? Over half of the respondents did majority of their schooling in Africa

Q6:Greatest level of Educational Attainment

Q7:State your profession? Wide range of professions from the arts to science e.g. rural development, Healthcare professionals, teachers, economist, criminologist, banker, editor, telecommunication, information technology consultants and social scientist in addition to numerous others

Q8:Which country you are presently practicing your skills ?

Q9:How long have you been working outside Africa in years ? Answers ranged from all my life to 40 years with majority falling at 0-15 years

Q10:Have you ever worked in Africa, if so for how long? Some of the respondents had worked in Africa for years with the majority having minimal work experience before leaving Africa

Q11:Why did you leave Africa? Other reasons for leaving Africa included international transfer, marriage to a foreigner, joined family and parents decision

Q12 : Would you now or in the future consider going back to Africa? if so when?

Conclusions- 1 The actual figure on remittance is under-quoted as a significant proportion goes through informal channels and is not reported. There needs to be further research into understanding the remittance market in Africa. The aim would be to inform policy in both the sending and receiving nations on how best to ensure that “consumption remittances” is translated into “investment remittances

Conclusions- 2 There is an argument that African migrants contribute to the income of their countries of origin through remittances. However there does need to be further work to ensure that the benefits to the host country match the benefits to the sending countries. There needs to be action on the role of the Diaspora in contributing towards the economic, social, human and sustainable development in Africa as well as facilitating an environment for good governance using networks knowledge, investment and skill transfer. Otherwise the ability of African countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals would be very difficult

AFRICARECRUIT “Building robust and enduring productive capacity in Africa Africarecruit, Commonwealth Business Council, 18 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5LU United Kingdom Tel: +44(0) Fax: +44(0) Website: