Migration and Migration Management on the Ethiopia–Sudan Border Research from Metema
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March 2020 November 2019 SOASNovember 2019 November 2019 Migration and migration management on the Ethiopia–Sudan border Research from Metema Oliver Bakewell, Kiya Gezahegne, Kelklachew Ali and Caitlin Sturridge The Research and Evidence Facility Consortium SOAS, University of London The University of Sahan Thornhaugh St, Manchester Nairobi, Kenya Russell Square, Arthur Lewis Building, www.sahan.global London WC1H 0XG Oxford Road, United Kingdom Manchester M13 9PL Conflict & Governance Key Expert: Vincent Chordi www.soas.ac.uk United Kingdom Senior Advocacy Officer: www.gdi.manchester.ac.uk Team Leader: Rashid Abdi Laura Hammond Migration & Development Research Coordinator: Project Manager and Key Expert: Oliver Bakewell Caitlin Sturridge Research Officer: Communications Manager: Research Team Leader: Louisa Brain Rose Sumner Lavender Mboya This report was prepared and written by Oliver Border: Research from Metema’, London and Bakewell, Kiya Gezahegne, Kelklachew Ali and Nairobi: EU Trust Fund for Africa (Horn of Africa Caitlin Sturridge. The fieldwork was conducted by Window) Research and Evidence Facility. Kiya Gezahegne and Kelklachew Ali. For more information on The Research and The views expressed in this report are those of Evidence Facility visit the website the researchers and do not indicate a position or blogs.soas.ac.uk/ref-hornresearch and follow opinion on the part of the European Union or the @REFHorn on Twitter. EU Trust Fund for Africa. Funded by the European Union Suggested Citation: Research and Evidence Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. Facility (REF). March 2020. ‘Migration and Migration Management on the Ethiopia–Sudan Cover image by joepyrek (CC BY-SA 2.0). Migration and migration management on the Ethiopia/Sudan border: research from Metema Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................... i 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research aims ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Report structure ................................................................................................................................ 3 1.4 Limitations ......................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Setting the scene ......................................................................................................................... 5 3. Mixed understandings of migration ........................................................................................ 7 4. Actors, journeys, routes .......................................................................................................... 12 5. The impact and role of migration in the area .................................................................. 17 6. Migration management initiatives ........................................................................................ 20 7. Gaps in perception and action ............................................................................................... 24 8. Conclusion and recommendations ........................................................................................ 30 8.1 Recommendations .......................................................................................................................... 32 References ......................................................................................................................................... 34 Migration and migration management on the Ethiopia/Sudan border: research from Metema Migration and migration management in Metema, Ethiopia Executive Summary This research project examines the interests of a range of stakeholders in different forms of migration in Metema, Ethiopia, in particular those who are indirectly involved in designing migration responses, such as the Bureau of Agriculture, health and education staff, traders and local community leaders. It asks what they know about migration, smuggling and trafficking, and what they see as the major challenges these create. It asks about their knowledge of the existing interventions addressing migration issues and what they see as the major gaps. Finally, it asks about the impact of migration on the wider socioeconomic conditions in the local area and what impact (if any) they think migration interventions may make. The report identifies three different narratives of migration that people in the area use when talking about migration. 1. Misery narrative: this narrative focuses on irregular and unsafe migration, including that facilitated by smugglers and traffickers, and involves people moving across the Ethiopia–Sudan border, often to reach Europe or other remote destinations. 2. Livelihood narrative: unlike the misery narrative, which sees migration as a problem in itself, this livelihood narrative frames it as a response to failings in development. People are seen to be moving in response to limited livelihood options in their place of origin. Some of this movement is temporary, in response to economic conditions, while some is more long-term or permanent. 3. Fact of life narrative: this narrative takes the history of the Metema border area as evidence that mobility and border crossings are a central part of the lives of people who live in proximity to the border. Mobility is necessary for the survival of the border towns, as their markets depend on it. The focus of this narrative tends to be the seasonal migration of agricultural workers and traders who pass back and forth on a regular basis. i Migration and migration management on the Ethiopia/Sudan border: research from Metema Migration across the Ethiopia–Sudan border at Metema is dominated by two broad sets of movements. The largest by number is made up of agricultural seasonal workers, the saluge. The other set of migrants comprises those who cross into Sudan with the aim of reaching Khartoum and possibly further afield, including North Africa and eventually Europe. The interventions funded by the EU Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF) for Africa have been seeking to address the needs and problems of migrants by supporting direct services (such as the Migration Response Centre (MRC) or drop-in centres), and by working with officials to improve the judicial process faced by irregular migrants and their capacity to prosecute smuggling and trafficking. However, it is still too early to assess the success of these programmes and this research is anyway not intended to be an evaluation of these activities. What the research does identify is the gap between perspectives of many local actors and those immersed in migration management. While the latter are focused on reducing irregular migration, the importance of cross-border migration in the local economy and labour market mean that many others have a strong interest in ensuring mobility is unhindered. These findings clearly show that there is a need to expand the reach of migration management activities to include a wider range of stakeholders in the design and implementation of programmes. This report provides several recommendations that may help future programmes strengthen their engagement with those stakeholders who are often not involved in migration management planning, activities, consultation and information dissemination. Better design of interventions 1. Broader evidence base - In order to reduce the gap between interests of local stakeholders and aims of migration management interventions, the design phase for any future programmes should start with a critical analysis of the relationship between all forms of migration and the local community and political economy. 2. Ongoing dialogue – The design phase should establish a mechanism for ongoing dialogue and consultation on migration issues with this wider group of stakeholders. 3. Flexibility in response to stakeholder interests – based on this analysis, there needs to be a commitment to design programmes to address the needs of migrants as well as the concerns and needs of local communities. Improving implementation 4. Wider and more substantive participation – Implementing agencies must open up more opportunities for local stakeholders to participate in ongoing programmes. 5. Build up links between local and national dialogues – Efforts to develop national agreements on cross-border migration issues need to be accompanied by local level exchanges. 6. Critical real-time evaluation of programmes – Given the complex array of factors that drive migration and the potential for programme interventions to have unintended and unanticipated consequences, it is very important to establish mechanisms for the ongoing evaluation of impact (not just monitoring of outputs). ii Migration and migration management on the Ethiopia/Sudan border: research from Metema 1. Introduction This report critically reviews the idea and practice of migration management as an area of development intervention through a case study of experiences on the border between Ethiopia and Sudan. Its analysis is based on interviews conducted with key informants in the town of Metema, in the Amhara