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MOP Research Project

Migration to Cities in Ghana:  An analysis of the counterfactual

This study examines the impact of rural-urban migration on the welfare of migrant-sending households in Ghana by exploring what their living standards might have been had their migrant members remained at home. While earlier counterfactual analysis largely focused on economic gains and losses, we also examined social counterfactuals of migration to cities.  The data were obtained from a household survey conducted among 1,132 households selected from five regions of Ghana. Additionally, qualitative data was obtained through interviews conducted with 68 recent rural-urban in-migrants in Accra.

Key findings:

  • One third of the households gained from migration, while another third lost from migration into cities;
  • Households with a female migrant are more likely to gain from migration into cities than those with only male migrant;
  • Households with highly educated and highly skilled migrants are also more likely to be successful with migration into cities than those with low levels of educational status and skills;
  • Remittances play a very important role in determining which households would be better off;
  • The social impacts of migration into cities include early or delayed marriages, child birth, enhanced education, and psychological wellbeing.

This study provides novel panel data and empirical assessment of the impact of rural-urban migration on migrants’ wellbeing. It also provides data on the interconnections between rural and urban areas. The findings are useful both to potential migrants themselves and to policy-makers concerned with social conditions, social equity and sustainable development. The study again provides a major contribution to migration research methodology, since counterfactual estimation was approached in several ways to compare the robustness of several approaches and models.

In terms of uptake activities, a policy dialogue was organised in December 2015 to share the research findings with various stakeholders. Additionally, two policy briefs, one factsheet and one working paper have been published. 

The research team members are Joseph Kofi Teye (Principal Investigator), Mariama Awumbila and Louis Boakye-Yiadom.
 

Migration to Cities in Ghana:  An analysis of the counterfactual

This study examines the impact of rural-urban migration on the welfare of migrant-sending households in Ghana by exploring what their living standards might have been had their migrant members remained at home. While earlier counterfactual analysis largely focused on economic gains and losses, we also examined social counterfactuals of migration to cities.  The data were obtained from a household survey conducted among 1,132 households selected from five regions of Ghana. Additionally, qualitative data was obtained through interviews conducted with 68 recent rural-urban in-migrants in Accra.

Key findings:

  • One third of the households gained from migration, while another third lost from migration into cities;
  • Households with a female migrant are more likely to gain from migration into cities than those with only male migrant;
  • Households with highly educated and highly skilled migrants are also more likely to be successful with migration into cities than those with low levels of educational status and skills;
  • Remittances play a very important role in determining which households would be better off;
  • The social impacts of migration into cities include early or delayed marriages, child birth, enhanced education, and psychological wellbeing.

This study provides novel panel data and empirical assessment of the impact of rural-urban migration on migrants’ wellbeing. It also provides data on the interconnections between rural and urban areas. The findings are useful both to potential migrants themselves and to policy-makers concerned with social conditions, social equity and sustainable development. The study again provides a major contribution to migration research methodology, since counterfactual estimation was approached in several ways to compare the robustness of several approaches and models.

In terms of uptake activities, a policy dialogue was organised in December 2015 to share the research findings with various stakeholders. Additionally, two policy briefs, one factsheet and one working paper have been published. 

The research team members are Joseph Kofi Teye (Principal Investigator), Mariama Awumbila and Louis Boakye-Yiadom.

 

The Migration Industry in Ghana

Migration is increasingly receiving attention on the global development agenda as migration trends are not only accelerating, but also diversifying.  Facilitating, sustaining and sometimes driving these migration flows are intermediaries, both formal and informal, who may include informal social networks, intermediaries, recruitment agencies and their chains of sub-agents, travel agencies, legal advisers and similar businesses. Thus the migration industry is not only an important phenomenon in itself, but it can also fundamentally impact on migratory flows and governments’ attempts to manage or regulate migration for poverty reduction.

However, very little data exist on the industry for internal and regional migration streams despite the large volume of migrants moving within these streams. As a result, the need to understand the structure of the migration industry in Ghana in different contexts and for different groups of migrants, the services that they provide, the implications for migration costs and the policy reforms that are needed to reduce costs so as to minimise the scope of exploitation and malpractice have become important. In Ghana, although there is paucity of knowledge about the migration industry, anecdotal data indicate a wide array of both formal and informal actors who provide services that may both facilitate as well as constrain migration. The few studies undertaken tend to focus on aspects of the industry that facilitate, in particular, irregular migration out of Ghana. The study sort to identify the incidence, characteristics, functions, main actors and stakeholders of the migration industry in Ghana, and the extent to which recruitment agents are involved in the migration streams. 

The study employed qualitative research approach, including an extensive desk study, key informant interviews, in-depth interviews, participant observation, photography, informal conversations and collection of data from secondary sources.

Key findings:

  • There is an established migration industry for domestic work in Ghana with various actors encompassing formal and informal recruitment agencies, intermediaries, state agencies, employers and employees with motivating factors extending beyond profit-making.
  • Domestic workers in Ghana have some level of agency to reduce the level of exploitation that they face.
  • There is an emerging trend of increasing numbers of senior high school graduates and, to a smaller extent, some with tertiary level education seeking employment as domestic workers

CMS hosted a dissemination workshop on the findings of the study which was attended by a number of stakeholders from the ministries, departments, agencies and various actors in the migration industry including intermediaries, agents, employers and employees, state agencies, Domestic Workers Association to discuss and share views on the migration industry in Ghana .The research findings have also been presented at a conference and a seminar in Ghana. There is also a Working Paper and Library of Images from the study.

Members of the research team include Mariama Awumbila, (Principal Investigator), Leander Kandilege and Mary Setrana.

 

Migration, Intra-Household Dynamics and Youth Aspirations in Ghana

This study examined whether migration is changing gendered power relations and roles within households and the relationship between migration and the households’ long-term investment in human capital. It further explored whether migration and associated remittances use and investment in children can shape youth aspiration towards migration and work. Finally, the study sought to empirically examine the gendered patterns of earning, remitting and remittance use among households. This study adopted a sequential triangulation strategy, whereby both quantitative and qualitative data were used to answer the research questions. The results of the study showed that the social context mediates sending and use of remittances in Northern Ghana. Also, migration does not per se transform social relations in the home community but in northern Ghana young women use migration as a means to accelerate on-going changes in the social realm and in gendered relations. Two working papers and two policy briefs have been developed from the study. A dissemination workshop has been organised to share research findings with various stakeholders including key stakeholders from the Ghana Labour Department, The Trades Union Congress (TUC) and its key unions such as the International Union of Food and Agriculture (IUF) and Union of Informal Workers Associations (UNIWA, Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa, (LAWA), the Media Network on Migration (MENOM-Ghana). 

The study provides evidence from research on migration, intra-households dynamics and youth aspirations in Ghana for policy makers and NGOs.

This research team is made up of Mariama Awumbila (Principal investigator), Joseph Kofi Teye and Akosua Keseboa Darkwah.

 

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