Reversing
the Brain Drain In Ethiopia
By David H. Shinn
Adjunct Professor,
Elliott School of International Affairs
Delivered to the
Ethiopian North
American Health Professionals Association
On November 23, 2002
In
Alexandria, Virginia
I am honored to address this evening the Second Annual
Conference of the Ethiopian North American Health Professionals Association
(ENAHPA), a distinguished organization that is dedicated to transferring
medical skills, services and equipment to Ethiopia. The establishment in the African diaspora of additional groups
like ENAHPA could make an important, positive contribution to the economic and
social development of the continent. I
commend all of you for the time and financial resources you have made available
in order to improve, however modestly, the medical situation in your country of
origin. I would also like to thank Dr.
Ingida Asfaw, President of ENAHPA, for inviting me to give this keynote
address.
The brain drain is not unique to Ethiopia or even to developing countries. To some extent, every country in the world,
including the United States, loses through migration highly educated and
skilled individuals. In fact, the
British Royal Society coined the term
“brain drain” to describe the outflow of scientists to the United States
and Canada in the 1950s and early 1960s.
There was a massive migration in the 1960s primarily of British, German
and Canadian scholars to the United States.
Beginning in the late 1960s, the brain drain came to be associated with
the flow of skilled individuals from the developing world to Western Europe and
North America.
The brain drain is having a significant negative effect on most
developing countries, although a few have coped successfully with the
problem. Seventy-nine percent of
1990-1991 Ph.D. recipients in science and technology from India and 88 percent
of those from China were still working in the United States by 1995. By contrast, only 11 percent of South
Koreans who earned science and engineering doctorates from American
universities in 1990-1991 were still in the United States in 1995. Ph.D. recipients in the United States from
Taiwan also tend to return to their country of origin. I will revisit the reasons for this success
in South Korea and Taiwan.
It is true that countries in
North America and Europe today are overwhelmingly the net beneficiaries of the
brain drain. The United States attracts
most of the skilled workers from other countries. Forty percent of the foreign born adult population in the United
States has been educated beyond the secondary school level. Twenty-three percent of medical personnel
now working in the United States received their diplomas in a foreign
country. Skilled immigrants can be
found in virtually every aspect of American society and, increasingly, their
origin is Africa.
More than 2,000 Nigerian doctors work in the United States even though
there continues to be a critical need for health professionals in Nigeria. About 10,000 Nigerian academics are employed
in the United States alone. There
reportedly are more Sierra Leonean doctors living in the Chicago area than in
Sierra Leone. An estimated 600 Ghanaian
doctors work in New York City, about 20 percent of its requirement. More than 1,000 professionals left Zimbabwe
for other countries in 1997 alone.
There are more African-born scientists and engineers working in the
United States than there are in Africa.
In a paper delivered two years ago before an Addis Ababa conference on
the brain drain, Dr. Meera Sethi, the International Organization for Migration
representative in Ethiopia, noted that Africa lost a third of its professionals
to the developed countries between 1960 and 1987. An estimated 23,000 academics and 50,000 middle and senior
management personnel leave the continent each year. More than 40,000 Africans with a Ph.D. now live outside the
continent. Dr. Sethi concluded that
almost half of those who left Africa did so to study abroad while nearly 30
percent sought professional development.
Less than seven percent left for political reasons. Looked at another way, Dr. Dejene Aredo of
the Addis Ababa University faculty of business and economics estimates that
20,000 professionals leave Africa annually.
For every 100 professionals sent overseas for training between 1982 and
1997, 35 failed to return to the continent.
The largest migratory flows are from Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria,
Kenya, Ghana and Ethiopia.
Before turning to the situation in Ethiopia, it is instructive to consider
the serious shortage of medical staff in neighboring Kenya, a country that is
both wealthier and has traditionally trained a higher percentage of its
nationals in the field of medicine. The
Kenya Medical Association recently warned that emigration of medical
professionals is threatening the very existence of the country’s health
services. The Association said that low
pay is forcing about 20 doctors to leave Kenya each month to take better
positions in other countries. Kenya now
has only 600 doctors and 70 dentists in the public sector to treat 28 million
Kenyans. The Kenya Medical Association
argued that this brain drain has contributed to a general deterioration in
medical services for the masses.
Increasingly, medical care and health facilities are only available to
the wealthy.
The financial cost of the brain drain for Africa is huge. The International Office for Migration
estimates that about 300,000 professionals from Africa live and work in Europe
and North America. Approximately
100,000 expatriates from the West at an annual cost of $4 billion are employed
to help make up for the loss of professionals from sub-Saharan Africa. This expatriate labor force is considerably
more expensive than the Africans they have replaced, although many of their
salaries and benefits are paid by foreign governments as part of grant aid
programs. African countries have,
nevertheless, invested scarce capital in training their nationals. The cost of training, for example, a
non-specialized doctor in a developing country is about $60,000 and for a
paramedical specialist about $12,000.
When these individuals emigrate from the continent, wealthier nations
usually reap the benefits of training provided by poorer nations.
As seriously as the brain drain has negatively impacted Ethiopia, it is
important to keep the problem in perspective and understand that other African
countries like Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya are struggling with the same
challenge. Some of these countries
have, of course, a larger percentage of highly trained personnel and are,
therefore, in a stronger position to confront the loss. Even more important, a few African countries
such as Botswana and Mauritius seem to be minimally affected by the brain
drain. Obviously, they are doing
something right. But first what do we
know about the nature of the issue in Ethiopia?
For starters, several persons who have looked at the brain drain
phenomenon have observed that prior to the 1974 revolution virtually all
Ethiopians who attended university in the country remained at the completion of
their work and the vast majority of those who studied overseas returned to
Ethiopia. According to one study, only
one Ethiopian physician was working outside the country as recently as
1972. The brain drain has not always
been a problem in Ethiopia. The
environment created during the Derg government as a result of political
persecution and the Red Terror was a major turning point. It caused a significant emigration of highly
skilled Ethiopians that continues to the present day, although the reasons for
the exodus have changed somewhat.
Statistical information on the Ethiopian brain drain tends to be
anecdotal, confusing and sometimes conflicting. There are no reliable, long-term macro statistics for documenting
the problem. The anecdotal information
since 1974 is, however, consistently depressing, especially in the areas of
science, engineering and medicine. Dr.
Dejene Aredo reports that of the Ethiopian students officially sent abroad for
study between the 1968/1969 and 1995/1996 academic years, 35 percent failed to
return to Ethiopia. A study of four
government organizations, including Addis Ababa University, indicated that out
of every 100 professionals sent overseas for training between 1982 and 1997, 35
did not return. Among female
professionals in this group, the number was 43 out of 100. Those trained in medicine were the least
likely to return and the higher the level of education, the greater the
probability they remained in their adopted country.
Dr. Seyoum Teferra, who is with the Addis Ababa University faculty of
education, has investigated the brain drain as it impacts institutions of
higher education. In one study he found
that out of 135 Ethiopian academic staff who were teaching at AAU in the early
1970s, almost half of them had left Ethiopia by the mid-1980s. The Academic Vice President’s annual report
for the 1983/1984 academic year noted that more than 300 academic staff had
been sponsored for study leave in previous years. Only 22 of them or seven percent returned to the university. Another report done in 2000 stated that of
the 600 AAU academic staff who were sent abroad during the previous 20 years
for further studies, only 200 had returned.
The AAU department of mathematics alone lost 17 of its staff. They all have a Ph.D. and they all currently
teach in American universities.
Dr. Yoseph Hassen Mengesha, associate professor of physiology at AAU, compiled
one of the most thorough accounts of the impact of the brain drain on
Ethiopia. In a paper he gave earlier
this year to the 38th Annual Medical Conference of the Ethiopian
Medical Association, he reported that 50 percent of all Ethiopians who went abroad
and completed their studies have not returned home in the past 10-15
years. During that part of the Derg era
from 1980 to 1991, 22,700 Ethiopian students went abroad and only 5,777 or
about 25 percent returned to Ethiopia. Twenty staff from the faculty of physics
went abroad for study in the 1970s and 1980s.
All 20 remained outside the country.
Between 1980 and 2001, nine physiologists from the faculty of medicine
went overseas for additional training; only three returned.
In another survey of all disciplines at AAU covering the period from the
1981/1982 to the 1996/1997 academic years, out of 898 staff who went abroad 563
or 63 percent returned. Interestingly,
of those who left AAU and the Ministry of Health between the 1968-1969 and
1995-1996 academic years to study medicine in the former Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe, 79 percent returned to Ethiopia. On the other hand, between 1980 and 2001 85 academic staff in the
faculty of medicine took positions overseas, leaving only 121 on the faculty in
2001. The primary destination for
health professionals is North America, Europe, Australia, South Africa,
Botswana and the Gulf States.
The Gondar Medical Science College reported in 2000 that during the
previous three years it lost 25 specialists and general practitioners to
private clinics and foreign employers.
This left the college with 90 instructors—down 40 percent from its
requirement. The departure of medical personnel
forced the college to close five departments.
The dean of the medical school commented that higher pay offered by
private clinics, employment opportunities in other African countries and
Gondar’s isolation from Addis Ababa were the major reasons for the loss. I visited the medical schools in both Gondar
and Jimma last year and can attest to the fact that they are suffering
enormously as a result of the departure of skilled medical staff.
Dr. Yohannes Kebede, public health specialist at the Ministry of Health,
explained at the 38th Annual Medical Conference earlier this year
that Ethiopia trained 2,491 general practitioners between 1988 and 2001. He estimated that one-third have already
left the country seeking better employment opportunities in North America,
Europe and South Africa. He listed
1,366 physicians working throughout Ethiopia in 2001. This works out to about one physician for 47,000 persons. By comparison, in 1996 there were 1,483 or
nearly ten percent more, physicians in the country. Ethiopia can ill afford this continuing loss of trained medical
personnel.
It is clear from this anecdotal information that the brain drain has had
and continues to have a significant negative impact on Ethiopia’s ability to
fill highly skilled positions in all fields of specialization. The result is particularly severe in medicine,
the sciences and engineering. Although
the magnitude of the problem seems to have decreased since the fall of the
Derg, it continues to be sufficiently serious as to merit urgent attention.
Ask yourselves, “What brought you to North America? What made you stay? How easy was it to make that decision?” The causes of the brain drain do not vary
significantly from one developing country to another. Unusual situations such as the severe political persecution and
Red Terror in Ethiopia during the Derg government certainly exacerbated the
problem, but the reasons are otherwise remarkably the same in the developing
world. They fall into two categories
referred to as “push” and “pull.” The
importance of the individual factors varies over time and from country to
country. Drawing on research conducted
in Ethiopia and other countries, I want to discuss the main causes.
Looking first at the “push” factors, I have already identified the
negative impact of political persecution as a contributor to the brain
drain. The political environment need
not be as severe as the Red Terror to encourage an exodus of skilled
individuals. Poor human rights
practices, political and/or arbitrary arrests coupled with a backlogged court
system, intolerance of political dissent, lack of academic freedom, civil
conflict and the ravages of war, illegal regime change and favoritism based on
ethnic affiliation are among the political reasons for the brain drain. All of these factors, in addition to others,
occur somewhere in Africa today and some of them currently apply to
Ethiopia. Several observers of the Ethiopian
brain drain put political causes at the top of the list; others suggest the
economic explanation is more appropriate.
Experts who have studied the brain drain point to a basket of economic
reasons for causing or exacerbating the problem. As daily living conditions become more difficult, many
professionals will look for opportunities elsewhere. A country with a weak economy, high unemployment, low wages and
considerable poverty is a prime candidate for a major brain drain. Ethiopia certainly fits this
description. On the other hand, South
Africa also has a serious brain drain but has a much stronger economy than
Ethiopia. Abeba Tadesse, a law student
at Mekelle University, concluded in a paper on the brain drain earlier this
year that Ethiopia’s poor economy, together with political instability, are the
two principal causes of the problem.
Low salaries for professionals are often cited as the major
culprit. Nigerian Internet whiz, Philip
Emeagwali, who now lives in the United States, argued that unreasonably low
wages paid to African professionals are the primary cause. The Permanent Secretary of Kenya’s Ministry
of Health, Julius Meme, commented last year that low salaries for Kenyan
doctors are the main reason that they leave the country. He pointed out that Kenyan doctors earned a
maximum of $414 per month compared to their South African counterparts who
received up to $2,600 monthly. Even
this salary, of course, pales to that received in the United States. Dr. Seyoum Teferra reported that the average
annual salary in 1997 for an Ethiopian professor at AAU was about eight percent
of that of his counterpart in South Africa and just over 12 percent of the
prevailing professorial salary in Zimbabwe.
Although low pay certainly contributes to the problem in Ethiopia, it
may not be the principal one. Salaries
were also low prior to the 1974 revolution, when the brain drain was not a
major issue.
A related concern is the matter of professional
opportunity, benefits and development.
This includes issues such as training and research opportunities, moral
and job satisfaction and human resource and management policies. Institutions that do poorly in these areas
are more likely to lose staff to the brain drain. Most developing countries do not have particularly friendly
working environments, healthy budgets, clear policies and generous research
funds. Dr. Demissie Tadesse of Alert
Hospital found all of these factors to be wanting in Ethiopia in a paper he
presented to the 38th Annual Medical Conference in Addis Ababa. He also cited the relative lack of
involvement of professionals in the decision-making process. I would add in the case of universities that
a reluctance to grant autonomy to the university leadership at each campus
contributes to low morale and encourages the seeking of employment
overseas.
Some of the problems are seemingly mundane. Professionals become discouraged if they can not afford to live
in decent, albeit modest, housing. Poor
supervision and limited career advancement opportunities add to the
frustration. A study by Rachel Reynolds
of the brain drain as it affects the Igbo ethnic group found that an important
factor in their decision to leave Nigeria was the lack of university teaching
positions. Poorly equipped institutions
where computers and access to the Internet are limited pose a serious
handicap. Nigeria’s Director of
Information Technology told the 10th General Conference of the Association of
African Universities in Nairobi last year that any university without full
Internet connectivity over the next two years will not be able to fulfill its
teaching and research role. Libraries
that house a modest number of mostly out-of-date books, broken or dated lab
equipment and doctors who are not provided with rubber gloves for use during
patient examinations underscore the problem.
Based on my own travels in Ethiopia, I can assure you these are common
occurrences.
One should not underestimate the lack of psychological satisfaction that
many professionals encounter in their working environment in the developing
world, including Ethiopia. If they
conclude that they cannot accomplish what they were trained for, they become
frustrated. Lack of access to
professional literature and miniscule research budgets add to the problem. Dr. Yoseph Hassen Mengesha reported that
the research environment in Ethiopia has deteriorated in recent years, due
partially to the brain drain. You have
a vicious cycle whereby professionals depart the country due in part to limited
research opportunities and then those who leave contribute to the problem by reducing
the number of scholars who are able to conduct research.
None of these “push” factors is easy to solve and they afflict all
developing countries to some extent.
The ones that could be ameliorated by huge amounts of money will be
especially difficult to deal with in a country as poor as Ethiopia. Nevertheless, it is important that
government policy makers and the managers of institutions such as universities
and hospitals that employ significant numbers of professionals understand that
all of these factors contribute importantly to the brain drain.
As difficult as the “push”
factors are to resolve, countries like Ethiopia that are experiencing a brain
drain have virtually no control over the “pull” factors. In most cases, these are the reverse sides
of the “push” issues. If the economy is
weak and wages are low in the country losing skilled personnel, the economy
tends to be strong and wages high in the gaining country. This is certainly the situation in North
America and Europe. In a relative
sense, it is even true for a country like South Africa that loses large numbers
of professionals each year to North America and Europe but gains others from
less developed countries like Ethiopia.
Losing countries also tend to have more political conflict and less
political freedom while those that benefit from the brain drain have the
opposite situation.
Beyond a peaceful political
environment and high standard of living, perhaps the most important attraction
of countries like the United States and Canada that are net beneficiaries is
the opportunity to exercise fully one’s professional training. Career advancement and job mobility are
usually predictable. More attention is
given to human resource policies, supervision and training. Nations that benefit from the brain drain
generally attach a higher importance to the development of knowledge than do
losing countries. Institutions such as
hospitals and universities usually have functional and up-to-date equipment and
well-stocked libraries. Internet
connectivity is nearly always complete and funded research opportunities
numerous. Benefit packages for health
care, life insurance and retirement are more common and generous. There even tend to be fewer bureaucratic
frustrations in the developed countries.
Rachel Reynolds’ study of the
Igbo who now live in the Chicago area found that a desire for higher education
and professional achievement were the primary reasons they chose to leave
Nigeria. In this case, they selected the
United States as the best place to pursue an education and profession. Dr. Demissie Tadesse also underscored the
importance of professional considerations in the movement of Ethiopians outside
the country. He cited, in particular,
their desire for more research, training and professional advancement
opportunities.
Some gaining countries,
including the United States, have visa policies that encourage the brain
drain. The United States has the
Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, better known as the DV program, that is
intended to encourage the immigration of underrepresented nationalities to the
United States. The annual worldwide
quota currently is 50,000 immigrants.
Ethiopians have made extensive use of the DV program. In 2003, for example, 5,562 Ethiopians have
been selected at random by computer from all qualified candidates to apply for
immigration. This is the third highest
number worldwide after Ghana and Nigeria.
To be eligible, an applicant must have completed a high school education
or equivalent. It was my experience
while serving in Ethiopia, however, that relatively few highly skilled
individuals made their way to American shores via the DV program.
There are other American visa
programs that target highly skilled individuals. The Immigration and Nationality Act provides an annual minimum of
140,000 employment-based immigrant visas (E category) that are divided into
five preference categories. The program
includes persons of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business
and athletics. Applicants in this
category must prove they have sustained national or international acclaim and
recognition in their field of expertise.
Outstanding professors and researchers fall in this category. A second group includes professionals with
advanced degrees or persons of exceptional ability in the arts, sciences or
business. Another category includes
investors who can invest at least a half million dollars. There are some very specific requirements
for “E” visas. I have the impression
that few Ethiopians have used them.
The United States offers a
variety of visas for temporary workers.
The H-1B classification applies to persons in a specialty occupation
that requires theoretical and practical application of a body of highly
specialized knowledge requiring completion of a specific course of higher
education. The O-1 classification
applies to persons who have extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts,
education, business, athletics or extraordinary achievements in the field of
motion pictures and television. The Q
classification is for participants in an international cultural exchange
program for the purpose of providing practical training, employment, and the
sharing of the history, culture and traditions of the alien’s home
country. Again, I don’t believe very
many Ethiopians have come to the United States using these kinds of visas. Several earlier presentations today
suggested these special visas contribute in a more important way to the
migration of Ethiopians to the U.S.
Since I don’t have statistics on the number of Ethiopians who have
received these visas, I am willing to be persuaded otherwise. You can learn more about all of these visas
by going to www.travel.state.gov.
The American Embassy in Addis
Ababa has been fairly stingy over the past decade or so in the issuance of
student visas. Many earlier students
remained permanently in the United States even though they had to show that they
intended to return to Ethiopia at the conclusion of their education. It is very difficult to prove an intention
to return, especially when students plan to be in the United States for four or
more years. As a result of this past
history, consular officers have become stricter. Unfortunately, decisions on student visas tend to be arbitrary
and probably favor the sons and daughters of wealthier and more prominent
Ethiopian families. This was a concern
that I held throughout my time in Ethiopia and, yet, we never found a
satisfactory way to deal with student visas.
Once in the United States,
it is not that difficult with the help of an effective immigration lawyer to
remain permanently. Perhaps some of
you in this audience had occasion to draw on the services of such a
lawyer. Numerous Ethiopian students
have remained permanently in the United States. But so have others who presumably came initially to visit
relatives, conduct business, participate in specialized training or even engage
in tourism. I suspect that most
Ethiopian professionals who now reside permanently in the United States came
originally as students or in one of these other temporary categories rather
than by means of a DV or special employment visa.
Keeping Highly Skilled Persons in Ethiopia
At the most general level, countries that are serious about reducing
the outflow of professionals need to strengthen their economy across the board,
improve governance and increase political freedom. But this is not very helpful advice and obviously calls for a
long-term program. On the other hand,
there are some less time consuming and more modest steps that can be taken to
encourage the retention of professionals in Ethiopia. One of the best compilations of useful suggestions is contained
in the Report of the Regional Conference on Brain Drain and Capacity Building
in Africa that took place in Addis Ababa from February 22-24, 2000. Sponsored by the Economic Commission for
Africa in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration and
the International Development Research Center of Canada, the report and related
documents are available at www.iom.int.
One of the first steps for Ethiopia is to create an accurate and
continuing database on the impact of the brain drain. This will help decision-makers formulate policy for those areas
where the brain drain is negatively affecting Ethiopia’s development
priorities. Without detailed and
up-to-date information on the nature of the problem, it will be impossible to
ameliorate it in any significant way.
The Economic Commission for Africa, International Organization for
Migration or a partner government might be willing to help establish the
database.
There must be institutional reforms that value, reward, develop and
challenge skilled Ethiopians. Providing
loans or assistance for decent housing, making available more funds for
research, ensuring Internet connectivity and providing more in-country training
could make a big difference. Efforts
need to be taken to improve the dissemination and utilization of research
findings and redirecting research to address the development needs of
Ethiopia. Expanded use of virtual means
for the generation and retention of knowledge rather than a reliance on the
physical movement of people would reduce the temptation to remain abroad and
reduce costs. Greater use of distance
education is another possibility. There
should be a focus on creating centers of excellence in critical fields of
medicine and science at universities and hospitals. Human resource policies that make a serious effort to accommodate
the career aspirations of skilled personnel are also essential.
One recent initiative is the African Virtual University or AVU that
began in 1997 as a “university without walls.”
It uses modern information and communication technologies to provide
countries in sub-Saharan Africa with direct access to high quality learning
resources. AVU bridges the digital
divide by training world-class business managers, engineers, technicians,
scientists and other professionals who will promote economic and social
development in Africa. More than 24,000
students have completed semester-long courses in technology, engineering,
business and the sciences and over 3,500 professionals have attended management
seminars. AVU is an independent
non-profit organization headquartered in Nairobi. Twenty-one African universities in 11 countries are now partner
institutions. I am pleased to report
that not only is Addis Ababa University among them but AAU is one of five
partner institutions selected to run the computer science degree program. The AAU campus coordinator is Dr. Habtamu
Zewdie; inquiries about AVU can be sent by e-mail to avu.aau@telecom.net.
There has been a significant expansion of the public higher education
system in Ethiopia; this trend needs to continue but with a new focus on higher
quality rather than more quantity. A
number of new private colleges have recently opened in Addis Ababa. This is a positive development and helps
share the burden of higher education.
It remains to be seen, however, if the private schools will offer high
quality education in areas of significant need like medicine, engineering and
science. Although the private sector in
Ethiopia is small, it should give increasing attention to collaboration with
universities on research and the development of the curriculum for coordinating
future employment possibilities. The
government may wish to introduce tax incentives to attract the private sector
into education. There needs to be more
attention to the education of females through the university level. This is the right thing to do even if it
does not reduce the brain drain.
There are some things the international community can do to help. Foreign assistance programs can provide
grants and technical support that expose Ethiopian researchers to best
practices that encourage intellectual independence. They can fund high priority programs in institutions of higher
learning. The African Knowledge
Networks Forum discussed priorities for regional integration in Addis Ababa on
October 17-18, 2001. It made the
important suggestion that non-governmental organizations should take more seriously
their responsibilities to help build Africa’s human resource capacity by hiring
staff locally rather than bringing in expatriates. Ethiopians have exhibited that they have the skill and training
to fill the vast majority of international NGO positions in the country.
Many partners, including the United States, offer both short and
long-term specialized training to Ethiopians.
In recent years, this has posed a dilemma. Frequently, those persons trained in the United States did not
return to Ethiopia. This defeats the
purpose of the assistance program and argues for an emphasis on short-term (six
months or less) training provided in Ethiopia.
Such training costs less and can be made available to more
individuals. It also eliminates the
temptation to remain abroad at the end of training. Long-term specialized training is another problem; it generally
can not be done in Ethiopia. But if
some of the changes suggested above are made, there will be a greater
probability those persons receiving long-term training outside the country will
return to Ethiopia.
Some of the proposals for dealing with the brain drain are more
draconian. It has been argued that
beneficiary countries should institute policies that restrict the flow of
educated migrants and that western governments should even pay compensation
when they draw talent away from developing countries. In my view, this approach is not realistic. Very few Ethiopians now living permanently
in the United States were recruited by anyone in America. They simply chose to go and then
stayed. No government should be
expected to pay compensation under such circumstances. Others argue that countries like the United
States should stop using employment visas to lure talented professionals from
developing countries. This is a more
valid concern and deserves attention, although until statistics show otherwise
I believe few Ethiopian professionals are in the United States today as a
result of these employment visa programs.
But someone in the U.S. government should look at this program to
determine the harm it is causing in developing countries.
The 38th Annual Medical Conference of the Ethiopian Medical
Association debated the matter of limiting the ability of Ethiopians to study
outside the country. It concluded that
if Ethiopia closed the door to overseas training, Ethiopians would only go out
the window. It added, however, that
since medical training occurs at government expense, individuals should not be
allowed to take positions outside Ethiopia unless someone first pays the cost
of training. This is an interesting
suggestion, but probably not enforceable.
Last year Eritrea announced that it was sending 300 graduate students
from the University of Asmara to South Africa for additional education. The university asked the students to post a
$15,000 bond to ensure their return.
Not surprisingly, the students protested they could not pay such a huge
sum and the university backed down, noting that it would instead withhold
academic certificates until they returned.
Back to Ethiopia? Not Likely
Most persons who have studied the brain drain phenomenon have concluded
that it is not realistic to expect a significant percentage of those who left
their country of origin to return many years later. Most are now married, have established families, have children in
school and become accustomed to their new lives. Philip Emeagwali stated it starkly when he noted that “an African
professional will not resign from his $50,000 a year job to accept a $500 a
year job in Africa.” Only after African
economies become much stronger and the political situation improves
substantially will it be possible to think in terms of significant numbers of
returnees to the continent. These are
the factors that have been so important in the ability of countries like South
Korea, Taiwan and Ireland to attract professionals back. They have, in addition, established policies
to foster domestic investment in innovation and research and development.
But there are some persons who, for family or other reasons, are
prepared to make the move. Dr. Meera
Sethi reported that the International Organization for Migration has a small
program for reversing the brain drain through selective return migration. IOM helps African countries identify
priority skill needs and then matches those needs with qualified nationals
living outside the country. Between
1983 and 1995, IOM helped to return to Africa 2,565 of the most urgently needed
professionals. IOM has undertaken a
project in cooperation with the government of Kenya to return Kenyan
professionals to assist with its development program. Known as Migration for Development in Kenya, some 320
professionals have already returned.
The Director of IOM recently announced that the organization is prepared
to replicate the program in other African countries.
There are a few private initiatives to reverse the African brain
drain. Two of South Africa’s leading
chief executives recently joined forces for this purpose. They created Leaders Unlimited that is
trying to relocate skilled African managers on the continent. It is working with African corporations,
parastatals and governments. It
recently convinced a top National Aeronautics and Space Administration
scientist, a native of Mali, to return to Africa to head the World
Bank-sponsored African Virtual University that I mentioned earlier. Inevitably, however, much of Leaders
Unlimited attention will focus on filling positions in South Africa’s much
stronger economy.
Countries that wish to encourage the return of professionals need to
offer special incentives if they hope to achieve any success. To some extent, Ethiopia has done this by
changing its investment policy in an effort to lure Ethiopians in the diaspora
to return and invest in the country. A
similar program for professionals and scholars might include payment of
relocation expenses, free or subsidized housing, tax relief, loans and salary
supplements for the first few years. It
is highly doubtful, however, that a country like Ethiopia could afford such
incentives. In addition, it would
engender considerable resentment among those persons of similar qualification
who never left the country and would not be eligible for the incentives.
For those persons who do have an interest in returning to Ethiopia, the
IOM office in Addis Ababa, working with Talent Search, a local private
employment agency, has organized a one-stop shop job fair on December 14,
2002. It will bring together employers
from the public and private sector, NGOs, international organizations,
embassies and other organizations to meet with Ethiopian professionals living
in Ethiopia and abroad. As part of this
effort, IOM will launch on December 1 an Internet-based virtual job fair. During the month of December, Ethiopian
professionals living abroad can link to the event through a web site designed
especially for the job fair. The goal
of the job fair is to assess the available skills in the Ethiopian diaspora, establish
an active database of Ethiopian professionals in the diaspora and develop a
partnership between employers in the public and private sector and Ethiopians
in the diaspora. For more information
on the job fair, you can e-mail iom@telecom.net.et.
An Important Role for the Ethiopian Diaspora
If my assumption is correct that most Ethiopian professionals are not
prepared to return permanently to their country of origin but, at the same
time, would like to contribute to Ethiopia’s development, the question arises
as to the most effective role they can play.
Ethiopians in the diaspora can and should be important partners in the
development process. They are numerous
and many of them are highly skilled.
Some have capital to invest. The
sooner that Ethiopians in the diaspora, the Ethiopian government,
non-governmental organizations, the international donor community and the
private sector appreciate this fact, the faster Ethiopia can take advantage of
this resource. It goes without saying,
of course, that Ethiopians inside the country should set the agenda. It is important, however, that the Ethiopian
government, perhaps assisted by international expertise, draw up a strategy for
making the best use of the skills and knowledge in the diaspora.
Damtew Teferra of Boston College has emphasized the role that
information and communication technology and virtual networks can play. They are ideally suited to a talented
diaspora that wants to make a positive contribution. These networks can link Ethiopian professionals overseas with
their counterparts back home. Thailand
has initiated a reverse brain drain project that is designed to identify and
attract experienced Thai professionals in the diaspora to participate in
mission-oriented projects without requiring them to uproot and return
home. Ethiopia could do something
similar.
Grass roots initiatives in South Africa and Latin America now link
their researchers to their respective diasporas. Ghanaians in the diaspora created a Ghana Association of Distance
Learning and Computer Literacy. It has
the full support of the government of Ghana and colleagues in Ghana. This same group also established non-profit
organizations to solicit financial and in kind assistance to support activities
in elementary and secondary schools.
Ethiopians have begun this networking process. ENAHPA is a prime example of a diaspora
organization that is networking with counterparts in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Scholars Program is trying to
strengthen Ethiopian universities and has called on qualified Ethiopians in the
diaspora to apply for short-term academic positions at universities in
Ethiopia. To the extent that Ethiopians
take part in this effort, I hope there is a willingness to work outside of
Addis Ababa where the need is even greater.
The Association for Higher Education and Development (AHEAD) based in
Canada is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving education in
Ethiopia. Its objective is to send
medical books and equipment to the medical faculty, provide scholarships to
medical students and network with the medical faculty. Working with the Ethiopian diaspora in the
United States, the Addis Ababa-based Ethiopian Knowledge and Technology
Transfer Society has arranged to send hundreds of thousands of books from the
American NGO known as International Book Bank to schools in Ethiopia.
It is important to expand these networks and to create virtual Internet
sites between the diaspora and the following kinds of organizations in
Ethiopia: professional associations, universities, the Ethiopian Science and
Technology Commission and the Ethiopian Investment Authority. Assistance in expanding these links might be
a good project for the Ethiopian Knowledge and Technology Transfer
Society. The Internet makes it possible
for the Ethiopian diaspora and organizations in Ethiopia to communicate
quickly, share knowledge, build databases and provide access to multiple
users. Eventually these networks might
include neighboring countries in the Horn of Africa and East Africa and their
diasporas. Many of the problems are
linked and issues such as desertification, famine, HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB
have no respect for national boundaries.
The Information Communication Technology Task Force of the United Nations
has launched the Digital Diaspora Network for Africa in a joint undertaking
with Digital Partners, a non-profit organization in Seattle, Washington and
CERFE of Rome. The project is intended
to promote development in Africa by creating a network of experts and
entrepreneurs in computer technology who are members of the African diaspora in
Europe and North America. The United
Nations Development Program and the United Nations Development Fund for Women
are promoting similar programs to encourage African development.
There are other useful things the diaspora can contribute. Remittances have long been important sources
of income in some African countries.
Ghanaians in the diaspora remit about $400 million annually to the
national economy. This constitutes
Ghana’s fourth highest source of foreign exchange. Although the amounts are much smaller, Somalilanders in the
diaspora are today the most important source of foreign exchange in Somaliland. The Eritrean diaspora has also traditionally
been an important contributor of foreign exchange in the country.
For its part, the Ethiopian government may wish to consider encouraging
the investment of money from Ethiopians living abroad by offering high interest
accounts. It should consider policies
that specifically target improved relations with professionals in the
diaspora. It might borrow ideas
implemented by other African countries.
As part of Nigeria’s commitment to recognizing the potential
contribution of the Nigerian diaspora, the president established the office of
special assistant to the president on diaspora activities. When the president of Nigeria travels to
Europe, America and Asia he meets with professionals, intellectuals and
scholars in an effort to convince them to return to Nigeria or serve the nation
in some capacity.
The president of South Africa is promoting the creation of agencies in
Europe and the United States to establish data banks to gather information on
the professional profiles of South Africans.
Cote d’Ivoire created a special department in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs dedicated to nationals living abroad.
The president of Cote d’Ivoire also promoted an international conference
in Abidjan on the country’s development and appealed to Ivorians in the
diaspora to participate. The government
of Ghana held in 2001 a “homecoming” meeting with the Ghanaian diaspora to
encourage its involvement in and support for Ghana’s development. The Ethiopian diaspora is sufficiently
large, wealthy and talented to merit similar attention.
Conclusion
This is a complex problem; there are no simple answers. Although Ethiopia can not control the “pull”
factors that contribute to the brain drain, it can do something about the
“push” factors. For the sake of Ethiopia’s
economic development, the brain drain merits high level attention. As Mekelle University law student Abeba
Tadesse commented in her paper, the government of Ethiopia needs to take
responsibility for addressing the problem.
At the same time, she emphasized that too many Ethiopians expect the
government to do everything. It is time
Ethiopians start taking some responsibility themselves. I would urge that this include those
Ethiopians living in the diaspora.