EFFEXT final conference: Understanding African Migration: Evidence-Based Insight

The EFFEXT project team are organising their final conference in collaboration with the Department of Social Anthropology at Addis Ababa University. 

The conference will take place over two days: 2 and 3 December 2024. 

The first day is an academic workshop for invited guests where the focus will lie on how we can understand African migration management and speakers will present their working papers. 

Day two is a day of policy and research dialogue: Ways forward in African migration governance. To register interest in attending day two, email Cathrine Talleraas (cathrine.talleraas@cmi.no). 

Draft agenda, 2 December 2024: 

09:00-09:15 Welcome  

09:15-10:30 Session 1: Navigating African Migration: Sovereignty, Governance, and Externalization 
Chair: Cathrine Talleraas 
Discussant: Leander Kandilige 
Format: Presentations (15 minutes each) and discussion (30 minutes)  

1. Contested Mobility Norms in Africa: Perspectives on Visions, Policies and Practice (Amanda Bisong, VU Amsterdam, ECDPM; Franzisca Zanker, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute)
2. Renegotiating Sovereignty: African Agency in Response to EU Externalization Efforts (Franzisca Zanker, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute) 

10.30-10.45 Coffee Break  

10.45-12.00 Session 2: EU Externalization and African Migration Governance: Case Study Insights 
Chair: Leander Kandilige 
Discussant: Oliver Bakewell 
Format: Presentations (15 minutes each) and discussion (30 minutes) 

1. The Nigerian Migration Governance Reform: Examination of the European Union Migration Policy Impact and Alignment to International Agenda (Akeju Kemi Funlayo, Ekiti State University)
2. Decoding Moroccan Migration Policy: Ambiguity as a Paradigm to Navigate African Migrant Inflows, Domestic Challenges, and EU Border Externalization Policies (Mohammed Ouhemmou, Ibn Zohr University)
3. Intersection of the Kafala System and EU Externalization Practices in Ethiopian Migration Governance (Saleh Seid Adem, University of Cologne; Arba Minch University) 

12.00-13.00 Lunch 

13.00-14.15 Session 3: European-African Migration Dialogues: The Role of the EU  
Chair: Are J. Knudsen 
Discussant: Hans Lucht 
Format: Presentations (15 minutes each) and discussion (30 minutes) 

1. EU Border Externalization Policies and Funding Migration Governance in Post-Colonial Africa: Humanitarian Assistance or Coloniality? (Rasheed Oyewole Olaniyi, University of Ibadan)
2. EU-Tunisia Memorandum: An Opportunity to Build On (Vanni Nicolì, University of International Studies of Rome (UNINT))
3. Dealing with Migration: The 'Mattei Plan' Towards a New Way of Dealing with the African Continent (Matteo Costola, University of International Studies of Rome (UNINT)) 

14.15-14.30 Break 

14.30- 15.45 Session 4: Migration Governance in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities 
Chair: Kiya Gezahegne 
Discussant: Ida Marie Savio Vammen 
Format: Presentations (15 minutes each) and discussion (50 minutes) 

1. Interrogating the Inter-Linkage Between Ethiopian Migration Policies and Irregular Migration (Alemu Asfaw Nigusie, Bahir Dar University)
2. Making Emigration Illegal: The View from Judicial Practice in Senegal (Sarah Scott Ford, University of Copenhagen; Mamadou Faye, Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar)
3. (De)Constructing Climate-Induced Migration: Policies and Perceptions in the IGAD Region (Samuel Zewdie Hagos, Leibniz University Hannover; Aurelia Streit, DeZIM Institute; Pau Palop-García, DeZIM Institute) 

15.45-16.00 Break 

16.00-17.15 Session 5: Exploring the Dynamics of Movement in East Africa 
Chair: Ida Marie Savio Vammen 
Discussant: Kiya Gezahegne 
Format: Presentations (15 minutes each) and discussion (30 minutes) 

1. "I Am Going Back Because God Told Me To": Religious Rituals and the Nurturing Migration Aspirations Amongst Sub-Saharan African Migrants in Mwiki Estate, Nairobi (Felicity Atieno Okoth, University of Bergen)
2. Seasonal Labour Migration Governance on the Sudan-Ethiopia Border (Adam Babekir, University of Gadarif)