Owing to globalization, irrespective of erudite modus operandi
states apply in curbing migration, brain drain is banging at every
doorstep resounding extra impediment from using greatest minds of
citizens. Decades back, it was mind boggling how large the existential
fears of Ethiopian youngsters were given the highly polarized political
milieu which had served as the foremost extenuating factor for exodus.
Pursuant to an account from Alliance for Brain gain and Innovative
Development, from 1980-91, Ethiopia lost over 70 percent of its skilled
human capitals from universities, hospitals and various other
institutions. Accordingly, brain drain is long overdue to Ethiopia
necessitating probe in ascertaining its exact locus on the subject.
Public Private Partnership (PPP)
Though, success stories for any brain gain efforts
trace back their triumph in a concerted action, it is imperative to
acclaim the deeds of government agencies like the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs which played a candid role in bringing this conference into
fruition. Currently, pioneering professionals and associations such as
Global Knowledge Exchange Network (GKEN), Ethiopian Doctoral and Masters
Academy (EDMA), Alliance for Brain gain and Innovative Development
(ABIDE), and Network of Ethiopian Scholars (NESGLOBAL) joined the cause
and actively engaged to connect academics, researchers and practitioners
for noble cause of knowledge and experience sharing.
Although there are some moves from the government
to help the country secure the investment it had incurred on the minds
of its citizens, while there are returnees, yet researchers and
scientists could not be recovered the same way and quality of engagement
exerted to other citizens in the diaspora. Hence, encompassing the
aforesaid professionals and associations is a plus in bringing shared
understanding.
Limitations
The steadily support for graduate schools, growing
schemes of scholarships and post-doctoral positions on the one hand
created a lot of good young talent. However, Ethiopia could not utilize
the huge untapped skills of the knowledge in the diaspora with
tremendous intellectual capital which could commendably fill the skill
and knowledge gap in various walks of life.
Considering at the immediate pushing factors
especially for young academicians of this period leaving their country
emanates from displeasure with work environment and curiosity to new
experiences as they are habitually exposed to foreign based
partnerships. One might not bring alteration to those who leave their
country out of curiosity but could certainly lessen number of fleeing
academicians which trace their motives to maladministration; by
prioritizing solutions to alleviate lack of good governance and reducing
the bureaucratic bottlenecks at diverse echelons.
Reciprocated incentives
While observing the way of life of Ethiopian
citizens as well as people with Ethiopian origin residing abroad, their
social life has deteriorated due to the loss of friends and
acquaintances. However, when they return home, they will experience
exactly the opposite: A reduced amount of money, more friends. Provided
Ethiopian society’s high regard for literacy and the very societal
fabric of leading a communal life, it will cause them to feel valuable
once again which counts a lot to commit themselves for their mother
land’s plea. They can set off what they had lost in the west or beyond
for the fact that their country has given them the chance to serve in
dignity and worth of their person which will cause them to feel desired
for some kind of change and purpose.
Policy Point of View
While much of the ongoing achievement can be
attributed to circumstances well beyond the spheres such as strong
economic growth and relative political stability, several Ethiopian
policies can also claim a share of the credit. When the country began to
invest in public and private education at a rate that far outstripped
most countries with similar resources, it has recorded outshining
results. Crucial among these have been a focus on subsidizing basic
education as well as the contemporary intensive follow up in the higher
education sector. Likewise, the decade long hefty government investment
in basic education have created a heavily subsidized vocational program
that channels young people into medium-skilled jobs in Ethiopia’s
booming light manufacturing industry.
Ethiopia launched its National Diaspora Policy in
2013 to craft a conducive environment which augments their
participation. Along with an active effort to network with the Ethiopian
diaspora and incentives for their return, the diasporas will come home
with high levels of education, some of it subsidized by foreign
governments and universities, and many also had significant business
experience. The involvement of this internationally acquired
acumen—through both the physical return of migrants and their
participation from overseas—has been promoted by the government through
policies centered on the Ethiopian diaspora. By then, Ethiopia remains a
country of net emigration, yet the brain drain is looking more and more
like an economic gain.
Brain Gain in the Industry Sector
As Ethiopia's industrialization process began with
low-tech, labor-intensive manufacturing industries, Capital and bulk of
the technical expertise came from foreign investors. Gradually, as
wages and skill levels rose, Ethiopian firms began using
technology-intensive manufacturing processes and doing some designs in
the country. As they did so, they used formal and informal connections
to draw on the expertise and business connections of Ethiopians living
overseas, and even to recruit them to work in Ethiopia. Ethiopia's
export-oriented industrial sector will make the skills of returned
migrants easily transferable. These businessmen and intellects will
become heroes of Ethiopian industry making this reservoir of technical
and managerial expertise which owed its existence to migration—will be
an important factor in the Ethiopian economy's rapid development.
Even if the government was quick to recognize the
potential of migrants as a resource, it shall engage them for more other
than the acts of few officials who used migrant expertise in
articulating government policies. The government promulgated National
Diaspora Policy of the country and established National as well as
Regional Diaspora Coordination Offices which created an enabling
environment to connect both Ethiopian citizens and people of Ethiopian
origin. Ethiopia’s diplomatic missions abroad, apart from the basic
economic diplomacy engagement shall assume responsibility for mapping
migrants in a database, advertise careers and available internships back
home, assist travel subsidies and arrange temporary job placement to
potential returnees. Hitherto the Ministry of Education had devoted
itself in mapping and recruiting migrants as professors and visiting
lecturers for the country's mounting universities, it needs to sign
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and appoint bright education and cultural attachés to hotspot
destinations of the knowledgeable diaspora.
Industrial Parks
The government’s recent and most celebrated
pronouncement is the construction of Industrial Parks. Although it shall
not entirely aim at migrants, inspiration for the park came from
overseas. Its unique goal is to replicate the dense concentration of
creative expertise elsewhere. Overseas connections shall be kept valued;
this could be done by maintaining workers from companies, universities
and other institutions located abroad as they could play the alma mater
card, and by arranging rotation schemes for their personnel between
workplaces. The government shall expedite if not provide financial
incentives and build infrastructures for companies keen in relocating
their plants. Accordingly, as government beef up its strength in hosting
international conferences on science and technology, it will give
researchers, workers and students in the park more access to the
international scientific community. Indeed, these parks will be the
center of Ethiopia's rapidly expanding research and development sector
and a major contributor to the country's strong economic growth.
Building a Critical Mass of Returnees (CMR)
Creative, highly skilled folks work and live best
when surrounded with similar people. The problem is that highly educated
migrants are hesitant to return to places where such people are
lacking, so no one person is willing to move first. Taiwan's solution to
this coordination failure was to subsidize the formation of a community
of well-educated people at the Hinschu Science-based Industrial Park.
The result was a critical mass of creative, Western-educated people that
attracted more returnees. However, it is critical to note that this
measure succeeded only because there was already a positive political
and economic outlook and real demand for the returnees' skills which
Ethiopia is craving to death.
In a nutshell, Ethiopia’s benefit from its
emigrants were mainly attached to remittances. Soon it will be on the
right track to attract their homecoming. Returnees will deliver
knowledge, business connections, and expertise to both the government
and private sector through informal and formal networks. This is
particularly powerful in an economy oriented towards trade and foreign
investment. Where smart people go, robust economic growth tends to
follow. When Ethiopia's economy reaches the point where it could keep
talents here and employ its high-skilled emigrants, those networks will
make the return of migrants faster and easy.
Share this
EmoticonEmoticon