Brain Drain, Brain Gain & Brain Circulation Femmes Africa Solidarité African Gender Forum and Award December 2007, Dakar, Senegal By Kiran Luchmun, AfricaRecruit, London

Who we are AfricaRecruit Enabling best practice Surveys, Seminars, Analysis Think Tank Findajobinafrica.com Enabling Skills Mobility, Circulation and Knowledge Transfer Africa Diaspora Enabling Remittances And Investments Capacity Building Programme Focusing on Human Resources, Skills and Diaspora Engagement Building Robust and Enduring Productive Capacity in Africa

What we do Through we provide a platform to engage African’s inside and outside Africa with job opportunities across Africawww.findajobinafrica.com AfricaRecruit raises global awareness about the need for human resource/skills development in Africa by addressing the continent’s skills capabilities and capacity, advocates for policies that help to develop Africa’s human resource capacity, formulates and implements practical programmes that help to reverse Africa’s brain drain Communicate, mobilise and engage the Diaspora and key stakeholders on remittances and investment It also uses these techniques to promote reforms in Africa that should make it more attractive for professionals and technocrats to pursue careers in Africa.

Rationale for AfricaRecruit “ The numerous current initiatives in Africa require high-level scientific technological and managerial skills. The question is where are the skills going to come from. Our answer is that from Africans in the Diaspora and the rest of the world. The training of new graduates will take at least a generation or longer but the skills are needed now if the further deepening of poverty and marginalisation is to be reversed. This is the rationale for the Africa Recruit project”. New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Steering Committee March 2005 " When AfricaRecruit was launched in 2002, I provided an endorsement in the firm belief that its objectives were not only noble but also realizable. Since then, the initiative has performed creditably and become a key part of the NEPAD programme to mobilize quality skills for Africa.“ H.E. Olusegun Obasanjo Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria “AfricaRecruit emphasised that inward investment flows from the Diaspora go beyond remittances. Many members of the Diaspora invest in their home countries in other ways, and efforts should be channelled into facilitating these flows. We consider that, as part of its dialogue and help engage the private sector to find additional ways-beyond remittances-to channel investment into home countries” House of Commons United Kingdom Parliament International Development Committee- Private Sector Development- Fourth Report of Session Volume 1

Job Vacancy advertising- using a global platform to ensure transparency E- Job alerts to users inside and outside Africa – timely availability of information Branding employers/recruiters – create awareness of new employers and ensure African’s are kept up to date on the employment market Enable employers to access national’s globally Human Resource Seminars/Bespoke Job/Recruitment Fairs- interactive forum to engage employers and potential job seekers exploring challenges and best practices Link and partnership to skills forum/events 2.1 million hits a month 32,000 visits a month Mailing list over 200,000 Active CV database 78, 527 Global spread of the users (inside and outside Africa) All African nationalities based inside and outside Africa Experts based inside and outside Africa All industries represented on the database Users professional work experience range from 0-25 years Enables circulation

Skills Capabilities Range of experience

Breakdown by Nationalities (Sending Country) One out of every 35 person worldwide is a Diaspora 60% of the Diaspora are in the West 48 % of Diaspora are women ( Source IOM) Every African country has a pool of highly skilled personnel in the Diaspora

Breakdown by Location (Host Country) Globally dispersed Larger number of Diaspora in Europe and North America

Profile of vacancies From private, public and non-governmental sectors Short term consultancies, contracts, temporary, permanent and voluntary posts Example of Diaspora that have returned home

Outcomes so far Retained skills in Africa- examples of African’s based in Africa that have applied for vacancies Facilitate return of some of the Diaspora (Brain gain) e.g. Sierra Leone national based in US when back to work for Government organisation DRC national based in US – recruited back home to a private sector bank Nigerian in UK returned back to work for a telecoms organisation

What we have done so far ….. NigeriaRecruit Lagos Nigeria December 2004 CameroonRecruit Yaoundé Cameroon December 2005 AfricaRecruit Career Fair London United Kingdom March 2003 and 2005 Advertised over 12,000 jobs across Africa over the last 5 years Facilitated the return of over 2,500 Africans a year Enabled the retention of a significant number of Africans in Africa Enabled employers irrespective of country or sector to access skills globally

Africa Diaspora Health Care Africa recruit worked with partners to run a successful workshop in March 2005 on harnessing the power and the voices of the African Diaspora to feed into human resources for health policy arena. The report was included in the meeting pack for the Commonwealth Health Ministers meeting. This meeting issued a statement of commitment to prioritize tackling the human resource bottlenecks. The report was also utilized at the World Health Assembly and the EC to increase focus and political commitment to human resources for health. Both have prioritized this area in forward planning. AfricaRecruit is a member of the Health Worker Global Policy Advisory Council whose aim is to forge creative solutions to the challenge of health worker migration. Working in partnership with others inside and outside Africa

AfricaRecruit Building framework Findajobinafrica facilitating access attracting the best Achieving the Balance – Retaining in Africa and Reclaiming from the Diaspora turning the tide Human Capital Develop & Retain Attract & Reclaim 500 Diaspora in a year HR roundtables best practice implementation Recommendations for policy Many Africans retained in Africa mobility of skills "Mobilisation of resources is crucial for the successful implementation of NEPAD” Prof. Firmino Mucavele, Chief Executive of the NEPAD Secretariat ”