Circular Migration and Entrepreneurship Development in Ghana

Abstract

Migration patterns and processes across or within borders is not a new phenomenon. For so many years, a considerable amount of attention and research have been attached to the issue of loss of labour in the source country, the increase in population and its associated pressures on social amenities and available jobs on destination countries. Current policy debate has however shifted to circular migration as a mechanism that makes migration beneficial to individuals, home countries and destination countries simultaneously. In this chapter we focus on a type of “managed” circular migration in which potential migrants are selected, orientated and sent in response to job openings in a receiving-country and employed for a predetermined period of time. In countries with established experience of this system it is noted that circular migration plays an important role as a source of labour supply for labour scarce countries and also reduces the trend of illegal migration. Ghana implemented its first form of managed circular migration with Italy as a pilot programme in 2011, where 20 young men were sent to work in Italy’s agriculture sector. In this chapter we take a look at how this managed circular migration scheme can encourage entrepreneurship development in Ghana. The chapter also discusses the current policy environment and its interplay with the managed circular migration scheme and makes some policy suggestions that can make all three parties gain in this scheme.