rolf TrAeger
Economic affairs officer, Research and Policy Analysis Unit,
Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special
Programmes, UNCTAD, United Nations
in recent years, developing economies like ing conditions of professionals.
China, india, singapore and south korea there have been programmes
have successfully managed their brain circu- to improve the working condi-
lation. the home countries benefit from the tions of health professionals,
experience of this additional knowledge and such as doctors and nurses, in
skills, and this can be a healthy thing for ldCs. these have helped increased
an economy. their retention in the country of origin.
in the case of the least developed coun- the same can be said in the case of edu-
tries (ldCs), however, this is not a common cation, by providing better pay and work
feature. here, professionals tend to emigrate conditions for research in universities in
and establish themselves permanently developing countries in general and more
abroad – returning home is rather the excep- specifically in the case of ldCs. education
tion than the rule. Work opportunities take should be improved, even though this does
them abroad, typically to wealthier, more increase the risk of further emigration. there
developed countries where potential earn- have been a number of international corpo-
ings for skilled workers can be much higher. rate programmes, sponsoring Chairs in uni-
for example, a doctor, lawyer or engineer versities and thereby increasing the incentive
from an ldC who goes to live abroad in a for qualified nationals to remain in their
wealthy country can often earn 100 times countries of origin.
more than in their country of origin. As a Another tactic is to lure nationals living
40 consequence, there are some 10 lCds, for abroad back home. some international
example, where more than one-third of organisations, like the United Nations
the population with a university-level educa- development programme and the
tion lives abroad. international organisation for migration,
it’s a question of the human capital in help qualified nationals come back to their
place in any given country. in order to devel- countries of origin by helping them get re-
op productive capacities, to create wealth, established, offering financing for new busi-
improve the wellbeing of a nation and to nesses and so on.
make the economy develop, a country needs Another way to mitigate against the
to have qualified professionals in the areas impact of brain drain is to make use of the
of health, computer sciences, engineering, diaspora, leveraging the skills of those quali-
law, business, accounting, and so on. their fied nationals who live abroad and getting
departure in one of the lCds means a loss of them to work for their country of origin in
the human capital base, the pool of skills other ways: through contacts, joint projects,
and professionals available to the country. by asking them to conduct research about
in order to minimise the impact of brain their home countries or participate in specific
drain, countries need to improve the work- programmes and projects in their home
countries. Usually, nationals living abroad,
even if they are permanently established
there, are willing to collaborate with their
homeland on specific activities.
this may not reduce the number of
nationals living abroad, but at least it makes
the countries of origin benefit one way or
another and makes use of the skills some of
these professionals may have, even though
they are living abroad.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52