Dear Colleagues, Roland Alden's recent contribution made very interesting reading. Some portion of his comments, especially those relating to the distance-annulling benefits of technology, aligns perfectly with a recent article I wrote for some newspapers on a related aspect of the theme which I believe would be beneficial in discussing some of the far-reaching implications of the issue of technology, business, globalisation and the poor...
--------------------------------------------------------------- Brain Drain.What Brain Drain? "Knowledge is the most valuable commodity of the Information Age. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is more powerful than jet fighters and bombers" - Ike Emegweali Brain Drain is a popular 90's terminology used in describing the effect of the migration from the African continent of skilled professionals to developed economies. A 2001 report by the Pollution Research Group of Natal University in South Africa says Africa has lost a third of its skilled work-force in recent decades, and that it is costing the continent up to USD$4b annually to replace them with expatriates. There are two types of job openings in the global job market. The first are poorly paid, dirty, and dangerous jobs usually scorned by nationals. While the second are highly specialized, professional positions available regardless of race or creed. However, there are two broad defects of the popular brain drain theory. The first defect is the attempt by brain drain theorists to link the current wave of adult self-migration from Africa to the forced migration of millions of able-bodied Africans brought about by slave traders four centuries ago. It is obvious that the two events do not equate in any meaningful manner. The earlier movement of skills from Africa was imposed by the physical capture of unskilled labourers who were permanently disconnected from the continent on reaching foreign lands. In contrast, the current upsurge of emigrating Africans is voluntary, and involves essentially skilled professionals who have been pre-trained (somewhat) in African schools. The numbers, from different sources, speak for themselves. Over 480,000 skilled persons have left the Continent since 1990 for countries in Europe, Asia, and America. There are over 21,000 Nigerian doctors practicing in the United States. A third of experts in African universities seek better employment opportunities abroad annually. Only 10% of Kenyan-trained medical staff remain in that country after qualification. 60% of doctors trained in Ghana in the 1980s have left for greener pastures. And the list keeps growing. The second problem with the postulation on brain drain by analysts is the suggestion that it is the best and the brightest that are emigrating, leaving behind the weak, slow and unimaginative. This is not completely true. Brain drain is nothing but the global, gradual, shift into an Information Age. And the first element of this new dawn is that knowledge would be the means by which an individual can effectively contribute to any society. "Brain drain" is the move by employers to secure intellectual capital that would advance their businesses from anywhere, and from anyone, irrespective of the race, gender, colour, tribe, and country of origin. In the knowledge economy, potential employees are being empowered by technology (and mainly the Internet) to overcome barriers created by geographical distances in their quest to join businesses that would make meaningful contributions to a new world. They are able to easily find on the Internet the businesses and institutions that require their services. They are now able to become what they want to be without encumbrances. There are five major reasons why African professionals are emigrating in droves. Many African professionals are running away from political persecution from home governments. They are discovering that the economic policies of the majority of African countries can be repressive of growth and personal development. These policies have devalued the effective worth of the wages they earn at home, so they are forced to look for better earnings and working conditions. The reality is that African wages in the most part just cannot compete with the West, and maybe it should not. They are also leaving to seek better career development and international exposure. Finally, they are running away from war, crime, and general insecurity of lives and property as obtains in many African countries. But the greatest reason for the fresh wave of manpower exits from the continent, in my opinion, is the influence of technology. Technology has enabled African professionals to find better jobs and opportunities. The Internet (www and email) has made job search by candidates, and recruitments by employers extremely fast. Technology has placed power in the hands of professionals to discover the openings on the globe that would make them become better, professionally and financially. They are not leaving because they are the best and the brightest. But they are becoming the best and the brightest because they have left. So how can brain drain be reversed? Let me say, without any equivocation, that a physical reversal of the outflow of professional expertise from the continent is impossible in the near future. It is not feasible to bring back to Africa all the professionals who have left, even if jobs would be given them. To make this worse, physical repatriation, even when possible, only ensures the return of the individual and not the knowledge or personal networks to which he or she may belong. It is also not likely that further exits can be discouraged or even prevented. The job market has gone global, and the probability of a truly skilled professional to migrate to a richer country is indeed very high. It is hopeless to believe that the continent's manpower shortages can be solved by an immediate return of skilled Africans. The reality is this: A generation of Africans is gone forever. Every scheme initiated by the public sector on the Continent to bring skilled Africans back home has failed, and will continue to fail. Not because Africa is not a good place to live and work, but because the professionals who have left have been eternally absorbed into a culture and a lifestyle powered by the best technologies. Returning to a culture devoid of technology will just not work for the vast majority. Though a reversal by way of physical return does not appear on the horizon, there are two ways of reversing brain drain. The first is by enabling a return of capital held by Africans outside the Continent back into Africa. African governments need to come up with innovative policies that can pool funds and capital resources held overseas together to fund projects back home. Second, Africans everywhere can be encouraged to share their expertise and knowledge by participating in projects back home without necessarily undertaking a permanent, physical return. Knowledge and intellectual capital does not have to "leave" the Continent, as the indigenous African worker living abroad can share his (or her) knowledge directly - via specific projects, or indirectly - by passing on their skills to the next generation of Africans back home. Each African expatriate can be reconnected to the continent, at little or no cost. Policies that would mobilize the skill sets of individual Africans and avail them to the continent via short exchanges and visits, email & web collaboration and advisory services, mentoring, etc, may reverse brain drain. In the near term, businesses on the Continent may find that the only option to employing a non-African expatriate (if the need arises) may be employing an African expatriate presently living thousands of miles from home. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fola Odufuwa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> is Executive Director, eShekels Limited, one of Africa's foremost technology research firms. ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by USAID's dot-ORG Cooperative Agreement with AED, in partnership with World Resources Institute's Digital Dividend Project, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org and http://www.digitaldividend.org provide more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html>
