Institute of Development Studies

Making migration work for development

23 October 2009

To coincide with the launch of this year's Human Development Report 'Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development', the DRC Migration, Globalisation and Poverty have published details of their six year investigation into migration policy and practice. Findings in their report 'Making migration work for development' indicate that for migration to have its full developmental impact, the most beneficial policy change would be to reduce barriers to migration, at all levels and particularly for the poorest.

Since its inception in 2003, IDS Fellow Rachel Sabates-Wheeler has been on the core management team of the DRC Migration, Globalisation and Poverty. Initially a theme convenor for an area of work that looked at the linkages between poverty and migration, she later convened a theme on social protection and migration. Under this latter theme, Dr Sabates-Wheeler led a large project on migrant access to social protection. This project also attracted matching funding from DFID Migration Team and the World Bank.

Recognising migrants' rights and aiding them in overcoming vulnerabilities associated with the migration process will have positive impacts on growth in host and source countries and will go a long way to reducing poverty. The main aim of Dr Sabates-Wheeler's research was to better understand the interactions between migration (internal and international) and social protection in order to inform initiatives that can create 'mobile' systems of social protection, and to find ways for enabling social protection entitlements to follow the migrant rather than being linked to employment category or place of residence.

Commenting on both reports, Dr Sabates-Wheeler said 'The HDR report takes a refreshing and much needed lens to the subject of migration – that migration can be a force for good by contributing to human development, particularly under a supportive policy environment. The report also explodes common migration myths around the nature of flows and the impacts migration can have on development.'

'Similarly, the DRC's report sets a new agenda for migration research. Easing migration controls and restrictions is fundamental to achieve positive development outcomes from migration.'