Africa seeks ways of harnessing brain drain

Oct 24, 2007

AT least 300 chief executives of universities across Africa are in the Libyan capital Tripoli to discuss the increasing problem of brain drain of skilled manpower that costs the continent up to $4b a year.

By John Eremu
in Tripoli, Libya

AT least 300 chief executives of universities across Africa are in the Libyan capital Tripoli to discuss the increasing problem of brain drain of skilled manpower that costs the continent up to $4b a year.

Leading donors and multilateral agencies, including the World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADB) have challenged the academics at the five-day conference to come up with strategies to turn the skills in the diaspora into a “brain gain.”

“How do we effectively and innovatively harness and utilise the immense intellectual, technical and financial resources of the African diaspora that remain largely untapped toward faster poverty reduction on the continent?” asked Dr. Zaineb El Bakri, the ADB vice-president for sector operations.

“Global experiences suggest that though it is difficult to stop migration of skills, it is possible to strategically harness the diaspora as a resource that can complement other efforts,”argued Peter Materu of the World Bank.

Materu said: “At the tertiary skills level, Africa has the largest proportion of its tertiary level skills stock outside the continent compared to the total stock available, which is small in the first place,” Materu said.

The conference at the Bab Al Bahr Resort on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, was organised by the Association of African Universities (AAU), the Seventh of April University — Libya in collaboration with the Gadaffi Development Foundation.

It is under the theme: “The African Brain Drain – Managing the drain: Working with the diaspora,” The conference was opened by the Libyan deputy prime minister, Prof. Abdelhafeed Zalitni and addressed by among others, the AAU president, Prof. Njabulo Ndebele, the secretary-general Prof. Akilapka Sawyerr, the Seveth of April University president, Prof. Shaeban Taher and Nadia Zakri of the African Union Commission.

The conference will feature 16 papers by experts from within and outside Africa, who will be discussing the issue of brain drain.

AAU is a non-profit continental membership organisation started in 1967 by 34 African universities, but today has a membership of 208. Its main objective is to promote cooperation among the member institutions.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});