Diaspora, institutional strategies and poverty reduction in homelands (A case study of Ghanaians in London)

The literature on the migration and development nexus has been enriching over the years, attracting several schools of thought with disparate perspectives. Despite this significant attention given by the academic community, not much has been done concerning the sociological elements of the discussion, especially withinGhana’s case. Indeed, the attempt to bring these two elements (migration and development) together without understanding that one (migration) is a social construct often results in conceptual myopia that weakens the main arguments usually presented. While a one-sided argument centred on the impact of remittances on the macroeconomy is imperative, this approach only tells a part of the narrative. In order to present a holistic perspective, this dissertation employs a mixed-methods approach to analyse the so-called migration and development nexus within the framework of the Ghanaian Diaspora. The dissertation is primarily centred on three worldviews within the academic migration discourse, aiming to add three key novel elements to the literature. First, the dissertation challenges the conventional knowledge, which more or less overlooks the sociological aspect of migration when it is positioned in the development framework. Essentially there is a widespread assumption that one of themigration’s consequences, remittances, directly relates to poverty reduction. However, given that most of the poorest poor hardly embark on legal migration, with a few of them only resorting to clandestine movements, it is unreasonable to assume they will be the primary beneficiaries of the most capital generated by migration. This is because remittances are subjective, corresponding to the private resources of the migrants and their families. Notably, this dissertation shows that remittances inflow to Ghana is unevenly distributed as most of them reach, socially, the well-off people who are left behind in Ghana and, geographically, the two most developed regions, where most of these migrants come from – Greater Accra and Ashanti regions. The second part of thethesis’ core argument introduces an innovative approach to address the challenges emanating from the uneven distribution of remittances. To do that, it was vital to listen to the relevant stakeholders, in this case, the migrants in the Diaspora, as remittances do not happen over a vacuum. The third part departs from the financial capital framework to discuss human capital. Specifically, it focuses on the skilled and highly skilled migrants, namely health professionals, higher education professors and real estate entrepreneurs, assuming two main lines of reasoning: i) to virtually transfer their knowledge in order to contribute to the social inequality and poverty reduction agenda and ii) help to identify, stimulate and eventually support the transition process of migrants who are willing to go back home. Primarily, this dissertation comprises nine chapters with four independent and interrelated empirical chapters (chapters 5 to 8), addressing the main research questions onmigration’s consequences-remittances, poverty and social inequality. Specifically, chapter 5, using multiple linear regression, shows that while an increase in remittance correlates positively with Ghana’s GDP per capita, this evidence signals an issue of social inequality at the micro-level. The chapter confirms the latter argument by placing the discussion within the socio-political context, supported by a diachronic analysis ofGhana’s emigration patterns and poverty. The evidence suggested that though remittances have sociological effects benefitting particularly, the more affluent social groups at the detriment of the poor, its overall impacts on the macroeconomy remain crucial; hence, there should be sound interventions to address the setbacks, ensuring better distribution of the benefits. Chapter 6 employed a mixed-method approach to collect information from the Ghanaian migrants worldwide and identified the engagement levels of those sending the remittances. Their suggestions led to testing a proposal on whether a State-led online application for sending remittances seemed feasible in chapter 7. Further in the proposal included, the returns from the app would go into investment in less-remittances recipient regions, which happens to be the poorest regions in Ghana. This was to ensure an effective redistribution of the impacts of remittances across the country. The findings indicated that most Ghanaians would use the app if only the charges were relatively cheap compared to other means of money transfer. Concerning the sustainability of the app, the study proposes the establishment of an independent check and balance office to regulate it. It also suggests creating a consultative body within the Diaspora to provide quarterly feedback to the public authorities. The last empirical chapter addresses the issue of brain drain and proposes the concept of virtual return for skilled and highly skilled workers. The chapter used a grounded theory approach to design a model (Engaging the skilled Ghanaians for development - ESGMD model) aiming to contribute towards poverty reduction and the socio-spatial inequality gap in Ghana