Migration drivers and migration choice: interrogating responses to migration and development interventions in West Africa

Richard Black; Alice Bellagamba; Ester Botta; Ebrima Ceesay; Dramane Cissokho; Michelle Engeler; Audrey Lenoel; Christina Oelgemoller; Bruno Riccio; Papa Sakho; Abdoulaye Wotem Sompare; Elia Vitturini; Guido Zingari

doi:10.1186/s40878-022-00283-3

Migration drivers and migration choice: interrogating responses to migration and development interventions in West Africa

Richard Black, Alice Bellagamba, Ester Botta, Ebrima Ceesay, Dramane Cissokho, Michelle Engeler, Audrey Lenoel, Christina Oelgemoller, Bruno Riccio, Papa Sakho, Abdoulaye Wotem Sompare, Elia Vitturini, Guido Zingari

Social Sciences

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Abstract

The notion of migration as being at least partly about ‘choice’ is deeply rooted in both academic thought and public policy. Recent contributions have considered migration choice as step-wise in nature, involving a separation between ‘aspiration’ and ‘ability’ to migrate, whilst stressing a range of non-economic factors that influence migration choices. But such nuances have not prevented the emergence of a significant area of public policy that seeks to influence choices to migrate from Africa through ‘irregular’ channels, or at all, through a range of development interventions. This paper explores evidence from West Africa on how young people formulate the boundaries of such choice. Drawing on approaches in anthropology and elsewhere that stress the value of a ‘future-orientated’ lens, we show how present uncertainty is a central framing that fundamentally limits the value of thinking about migration as a choice. This has important implications for policy on ‘migration and development’.

Original language	English
Article number	10
Number of pages	18
Journal	Comparative Migration Studies
Volume	10
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-022-00283-3
Publication status	Published - 7 Mar 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The research underpinning this paper was supported financially by the International Organization for Migration, as part of the ‘Safety, Support and Solutions: Phase 2’ (SSSII) programme, which was in turn funded by DFID (now FCDO).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

Keywords

Migration
Development
Choice
Uncertainty
West Africa

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Social Sciences

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

Black, R., Bellagamba, A., Botta, E., Ceesay, E., Cissokho, D., Engeler, M., Lenoel, A., Oelgemoller, C., Riccio, B., Sakho, P., Wotem Sompare, A., Vitturini, E., & Zingari, G. (2022). Migration drivers and migration choice: interrogating responses to migration and development interventions in West Africa. Comparative Migration Studies, 10(1), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-022-00283-3

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author = "Richard Black and Alice Bellagamba and Ester Botta and Ebrima Ceesay and Dramane Cissokho and Michelle Engeler and Audrey Lenoel and Christina Oelgemoller and Bruno Riccio and Papa Sakho and {Wotem Sompare}, Abdoulaye and Elia Vitturini and Guido Zingari",

note = "Funding Information: The research underpinning this paper was supported financially by the International Organization for Migration, as part of the {\textquoteleft}Safety, Support and Solutions: Phase 2{\textquoteright} (SSSII) programme, which was in turn funded by DFID (now FCDO). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s).",

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Black, R, Bellagamba, A, Botta, E, Ceesay, E, Cissokho, D, Engeler, M, Lenoel, A, Oelgemoller, C, Riccio, B, Sakho, P, Wotem Sompare, A, Vitturini, E & Zingari, G 2022, 'Migration drivers and migration choice: interrogating responses to migration and development interventions in West Africa', Comparative Migration Studies, vol. 10, no. 1, 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-022-00283-3

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AU - Black, Richard

AU - Bellagamba, Alice

AU - Botta, Ester

AU - Ceesay, Ebrima

AU - Cissokho, Dramane

AU - Engeler, Michelle

AU - Lenoel, Audrey

AU - Oelgemoller, Christina

AU - Riccio, Bruno

AU - Sakho, Papa

AU - Wotem Sompare, Abdoulaye

AU - Vitturini, Elia

AU - Zingari, Guido

N1 - Funding Information: The research underpinning this paper was supported financially by the International Organization for Migration, as part of the ‘Safety, Support and Solutions: Phase 2’ (SSSII) programme, which was in turn funded by DFID (now FCDO). Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

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Migration drivers and migration choice: interrogating responses to migration and development interventions in West Africa

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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