Managing African migration governance: EFFEXT final conference

The EFFEXT project team hosted their final conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 2 to 3 December. The conference was co-hosted with Addis Ababa University. The conference welcomed a number of academics and policy-makers travelling from countries such as Norway, Denmark, the UK, Germany, Italy, Senegal, Nigeria, Morocco, and Ghana to discuss issues related to African Migration Governance.

The first day comprised an academic conference with paper presentations from a number of academics, titled Understanding African Migration: Research Insights. The papers presented represented a diverse overview of migration governance on the African continent, and allowed for reflections on the role of different stakeholders in safely managing migration.

The second day brought together a number of policy-makers, stakeholders and academics in a day of policy-research dialogue about ways forward in African migration governance. to participate in the discussions, we welcomed stakeholders from institutions such as the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, GIZ, the African Union, and the International Organization for Migration. Common themes of how to improve cooperation between different stakeholders were integral to the discussions throughout the day – especially regarding how to balance different, often competing, interests from different stakeholders was central.

Cathrine Talleraas, project leader and conference coordinator, emphasised that it was highly productive and inspiring to listen to insights from both academics and policy-makers over the two days. The discussions at the conference highlighted mutual challenges and have inspired further collaborations with different institutions. 

Addis Ababa was chosen as the destination for the conference as many of these conversations about migration governance do not usually happen within Ethiopia, but are carried out outside of the country. Therefore, it was important to meet together in Ethiopia to discuss the effects of externalization in the regional context. As Kiya Gezahegne, project researcher and conference coordinator, highlighted Ethiopia is the hub of most mobility from the continent and the home of the African Union, and therefore it is important to have these conversations in Ethiopia and including African scholars and policy-makers.