Critical migration policy narratives from West Africa

Abstract

Although there are contesting perspectives on migration, there is little understanding of how narratives of various policy actors shape migration governance in West Africa. This paper relies on a desk- review and qualitative data to examine the narratives that shape migration policy formulation and outcomes in West Africa. The findings indicate that while various stakeholders have been championing divergent narratives on migration, programmes that have been adopted by West African countries to manage migration have largely been based on the narratives of political elite and international development partners, although there were situations where these narratives were not sup-ported by any strong evidence. While early views on the impacts of international migration portrayed it as a threat to socio-economic development, more recent narratives have recognized the potential of migration to contribute to socio-economic transformation. Consequently, various West African countries are developing policies to harness the benefits of immigration, emigration and return migration for socio-economic development.