Senegal, Between Migrations to Europe and Returns

The ITPCM

International Commentary

Vol. X no. 35

ISSN. 2239-7949

SENEGAL

BETWEEN MIGRATIONS TO EUROPE AND RETURNS

April 2014

1

April 2014

ITPCM International Commentary

ISSN. 2239-7949

International Training Programme for Conflict Management

April 2014

ISSN. 2239-7949

The ITPCM International Commentary

SENEGAL

BETWEEN MIGRATIONS TO EUROPE AND RETURNS

April 2014

April 2014

ISSN. 2239-7949

Table of Contents

For an Introduction -
Senegalese Street Vendors and the Migration and Development Nexus

by Michele Gonnelli, p. 8

The Senegalese Transnational
Diaspora and its role back Home

by Sebastiano Ceschi & Petra Mezzetti, p. 13

The Policy Fallacy of promoting Return migration among Senegalese Transnationals

by Alpha Diedhiou, p. 53

Imagining Europe: being willing

to go does not necessarily result in taking the necessary Steps

by Papa Demba Fall, p. 21

The PAISD: an adaptive learning process to the Migration & Development nexus

by Francesca Datola, p. 59

EU Migration Policies and the
Criminalisation of the Senegalese

Irregular Migration ﬂows

The local-to-local dimension of the Migration & Development nexus

by Lanre Olusegun Ikuteyꢀo, p. 29

by Amadou Lamine Cissé and Jo-Lind Roberts, p. 67

Reframing Senegalese Youth and
Clandestine Migration
Fondazioni4Africa promotes co- development by partnering Migrant Associations to a utopian Europe

by Jayne O. Ifekwunigwe, p. 35 by Marzia Sica & Ilaria Caramia, p. 73

Senegalese Values and other cultural Push Pull Factors behind migration and return

by Ndioro Ndiaye, p. 41

Switching Perspectives: South-

South Migration and Human Development in Senegal

by Jeꢁe Christiansen & Livia Manente, p. 79

Returns and Reintegrations in the Senegalese Labour Market

by Pape Sakho, p. 47

About the ITPCM

Next Trainings in Agenda, p. 88

April 2014

ISSN. 2239-7949

the ITPCM
International Commentary

Administrative Director:

Francesco Ceccarelli

Scientiﬁc Director:

Andrea de Guꢀry

Editor in Chief:

Michele Gonnelli

Contributors to this issue:

Ilaria Caramia, Sebastiano

Ceschi, Jeꢀe Christiansen,

Amadou Lamine Cissé, Francesca Datola, Alpha
Diedhiou, Papa Demba Fall,

Jayne O. Ifekwunigwe, Lanre Olusegun Ikuteyꢁo, Livia
Manente, Petra Mezzeꢀi, Ndioro

Ndiaye, Jo-Lind Roberts, Pape
Sakho, Marzia Sica

Proofreading & Copy Editing

Jessica Capasso, Nicole

Hoagland, Priya Mathews, Charloꢀe Reed, Andrea

Jacquelin Scheske, Jennifer
Suzanne Wells

Art Director

April 2014

ISSN. 2239-7949

Thanks &

Acknowledgements

We are irremediably indebted to all contributors , western and locals, for having embarked on this project by sharing their invaluable insights and knowledge, despite time constraints, workloads, sometimes language barriers and hindered communications.

Special thanks go to Jessica Capasso,

Nicole Hoagland, Priya Mathews,

Charloꢀe Reed, Andrea Jacquelin

Scheske, and Jennifer Suzanne Wells ,

for their patience and kindness in performing the proofreading and copy editing services.

Finally, we are particularly grateful for the precious contacts provided by Carlos

Cardoso (CODESRIA), and Henna

Mustonen, and her colleagues (UNDOC

Senegal).

The ITPCM International Commentary

FOR AN INTRODUCTION

Senegalese Street Vendors and the Migration & Development Nexus

“ One euro, one euro please, to buy a only a few minutes to sell the same sort to the way they shake your hand or sandwich, I did not sell anything to- of umbrellas to all unequipped com- greet you. They tend to maintain good

day”. You bump into them every day, muters in town.

relationships with their selected local

just by walking to and from your office.

clients, year after year, and through this
They walk all day long, 7 days a week If being a street vendor is the com- building up a sort of customary loyalty. or nearly, for months, sometimes years. mon trait for all of them, then basically You see them snaking into all possible time - their time - is the good that is on All these dynamics escape, totally or in streets, every little corner downtown, sale. Casual human and residual spa- part, the analysis and outputs of this iswherever pedestrians have access. tial resources in town are rationally sue of the commentary. They represent They look for fortunate encounters, exploited, looked after and serviced, in more recent trends, but also an often someone willing to delve a hand into order to maximize returns on their in- submerged and under investigated dithe pocket and flip a coin, or pretending vestment, which is their waiting, their mension of the (irregular) migration to be in need of the nth lighter, a new prolonged presence. To increase their flows that link Senegal to Europe. By packet of napkins or some extra soaks. probability of success they all adopt the same token these men are often Their quest is about little monetary re- a same strategy. They tend to expand overlooked or bypassed by more instiwards, demonstrating their persever- as much as possible their exposure to tutionalised forms of intervention, at

ance and resilience.

a fortuitous possibility of gain. That is the policy making and implementation

their being there at the right moment level. Less educated and undocument-
They are what I would call the ‘walking’ with the right person doing the right ed, though they are potential targets portion of the Senegaleses migrants in thing. Pisa. Back in the 90s they were just a

and beneficiaries of said policies, they

repeatedly fail to qualify for a regibunch of guys, more scared of you than Time, inexorably, is the main resource mented policy pattern (too big-scale you were surprised to see them. Today around which this male gendered form projects/actors?), invariably adopted they are dozens, cheering up a student of migration revolves. The money they by governmental and non-governmentown to which they keep arriving and can put together serves three main ob- tal development actors alike. returning, with their rucksacks, their jectives: it pays for their food and acbags, or the typical cardboard box lying commodation, often in overcrowded But be it how it may, these dynamics on their forearm, a compendium of an apartments where diet, meals and ex- represent, more generally, another side

entire Chinese knick-knack shop.

penses are communitarianly managed; of the coin, a switch on those same is-

it pays for periodic travel costs to and sues that are more overtly debated in
But not all of them are ‘walkers’, there from Senegal; and, it pays for part of the these pages. Yet, the daily witnessing of are other profiles and field of speciali- household needs of their extended fam- these men, while far from being scienzation. ‘Parking assistants’, on the most ily back home. They send remittances tifically grounded, confirms most of the

trafficked squares and streets, ‘fash- on a regular basis to relatives, spouses trends and findings presented within

ion sellers’ on the town mall, next to and children, in their place of origin. If this publication. For example, the cirbranded shop windows. ‘Glamour sell- they are lucky, some report sending up cularity of the migration movements ers’, close to the Leaning Tower, where to 200-300 euros a month. They never and the subsequent shaping of transnathey can better intercept international tell you when they are about to leave, tional lives, routes, and identities or the tourists flows willing to buy counterfeit but you realize that they have been temporary nature of recent returns and glasses and watches. Showing a higher away, sometimes for months, as soon as the role of endurance and self-reliance level of education and a different dress they are back. Suddenly you recognize as cultural drivers in the migratory selfcode, ‘cultural promoters’ instead sell that they have become a part of your validation process. traditional books in front of well-estab- environment, of your people. You have lished bookshops. When it rains, how- grown up crossing their gaze and their Articles are presented in an order that ever, like magicians they all turn into urban trajectories. You have become suggests a way to approach the com‘shelter providers’, somehow able in familiar with their faces, accustomed plexities that are at stake and provide for a reading path. In their opening con- youth protests. Dissatisfaction with ternational insecurity, current policy tribution, Ceschi and Mezzetti frame neo-colonial conditions at home would narratives in Europe turn such issues and detail the main characteristics of lead African migrants, who are socially into the need to avert potential national the Senegalese out of Senegal. Amount- designated as black, to risk their life and security crises, as he puts it. ing to 2/3 million, according to some es- limb en route, as she puts it. Reframing timations, the Senegalese living abroad such movements within the historical In the realm of the above mentioned qualify, with regards to their traits, as context of the Global African Diaspora, return policies, the contribution by Daa transnational Diaspora. Within this she maintains, helps to highlight mi- tola provides for a detailed account of framework, and given the spontaneous grants’ pursuit of an imagined Euro- the on-going PAISD project. A joint inisolidarity they usually show towards pean paradise. their homeland, both authors look into tiative between France and Senegal, the PAISD project addresses the Migration the role the European Senegalese Di- Also supporting the idea that migration and Development nexus from a promaspora plays, politically and economi- determinants are not merely economic, ising perspective that adopts a more cally, back in the country of origin.

the contribution by Ndioro Ndiaye fo- ‘private-sector-oriented’ approach. En-

cuses on other cultural aspects of the trepreneurship and private collective
From an indigenous perspective, Dem- Senegalese background. Relationships investments are meant to couple the ba Fall sheds new light on the Senega- between spouses and their children, social dimension and other capacity lese migratory process while providing religious and gender issues, as well as building activities of the programme of a detailed account of the main findings socially praised values shape the main co-development. of the EUMAGINE project, Imagining drivers of the future would-be migrant. Europe from the Outside (concluded in But cultural aspects also deeply affect Along similar lines, Roberts and Cissé 2013). If a very strong desire to leave return processes in terms of push-pull elaborate on the Joint Migration and the country (up to 82% of the surveyed factors. While looking in particular Development Initiative in Senegal, curpopulation in some cases) is very pop- at lower income class dynamics, she rently in its second phase of implemenular, acquired data show a far less un- maintains that culture can work as a tation (2013-2015). Drawing from the controversial readiness to implement blocking factor to social insertion, both evidence generated by the project, they the will to migrate. While the migra- in the country of origin and in the coun- argue that the effectiveness of M&D tory aspirations vary according to the try of destination. relative perception that people have of activities largely depend on strategic partnerships between Diaspora or-
Europe or Senegal, he posits how such The problematic nature of Senegalese ganisations and local governments at aspirations can have a great impact on returns is the focus of Sakho’s contribu- the decentralised level. PAICODEL and people’s everyday life and (negatively) tion. Building upon the MAFE project’s Jappando programmes, implemented affect the management of households’ main findings (2012), he draws from in Sedhiou and Diourbel respectively,

revenues.

statistics that span over a long period provide for sustainable examples in

of time, starting from the mid 1970s. If this respect.
Ikuteyijo, after having recalled the proportions of returns have been demain historical patterns and trends of clining since then, from 54% to 20% (in By the same token, Sica and Caramia Senegalese migration, focuses on how the first decade of the 2000 years) the report about Fondazioni4Africa (F4A) routes and flows have been impacted data shows, at the same time, a preva- Senegal Initiative (2008 – 2013). Proby the EU migration policies. He argues lent global tendency to make short moted by four Italian foundations of that migration management across the stays in their home country. When it banking origin, the programme was EU - being characterised by punitive comes to reintegration in the local la- meant to capitalize and endorse the measures aimed at deterring irregular bour market, ex-migrants compared to role that Senegalese migrant assomigrants and treating them as crimi- non-migrants, have a higher presence ciations can have in fostering develnals - resulted in an enlargement of in those professional sectors requiring opment. While involving, on claimed real criminal networks. In more recent higher qualifications and they suffer equal terms, 9 Diaspora associations years, in the face of rising human rights less from unemployment and inactivity. based in Italy, it promoted saving and

advocacy, the EU and other destination

remittances through microfinance,

countries have embraced more partici- Diedhiou, in his write-up, confirms this stronger links with the community of patory migration management tools, analysis while addressing the main origin as well as awareness raising and whose main priorities remain, how- flaws of the European migration poli- development education activities. To ever, to thwart irregular migration and cies promoting returns. Elaborating on this end training and capacity building help irregular migrants to reintegrate three orders of return, among Senega- for the partnered association were the

back into their countries of origin.

lese migrants, as he sees them - transi- preliminary steps undertaken prior to

tions, permanent return, and circula- project implementation.
Ifekwunigwe, within this framework, tion, he maintains that such policies argues that most policy interventions move from untested assumptions and Finally, Christiansen and Manente close on migrations from continental Africa disharmonic timeframe perspectives, this issue by switching perspectives.

to Europe favour a “one size fits all” ap- covertly reflecting a different and more They look at South- South migration

proach that rarely acknowledges their compelling political agenda. By asso- flows, to and from Senegal, providnature as racialised forms of urban ciating immigration with growing in- ing for an account of their overall rel-

8

evance, at the regional and global level. On the one hand their contribution is a

reminder of the relativity of the Euro-

pean perception on the whole migratory issue. On the other hand, if a common migratory culture helps to frame these movements within western Africa, it is their impact in terms of human development and in the local context in Senegal (Casamance) that end up being particularly praised. Beyond (or despite) western driven developmental initiatives, these experiences seem to postulate for the role played by the regional spontaneous transmission of the

so-called social remittances.

International mobility and freedom of movement per se are values on the rise, and in the face of globalization, they reach out in unprecedented numbers to more and more people in the world. Cultural exchange and the cross-fertilization of experiences and backgrounds have also their positive outcomes, besides an inevitable cultural hybridization that is part of life and brand of movement itself. The biggest challenge lies in making this process as bio-culturally diverse and as representative as possible. Far from that, western policy agendas tackling migration issues of-

ten still reflect security issues, identity

concerns or a racialised bias. Maybe it is just a matter of time, such as it is for the ‘walkers’ mentioned in the begin-

ning. How many roads must a street

vendor walk dawn before he can go back home? Only he knows.

9

April 2014

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All your beautiful words
All your beautiful promises
We still wait for them

Y o u promised me I would have a job
Y o u promised me that I would never go hungry
Y o u promised me that I would have real work and a future
Actually, so far I still see nothing
That’s why I decided to ﬂee, that’s why I’m clearing out in this canoe
I swear! I cannot stay here one more second
Beꢀer to die than live in such conditions, in this hell

Come what may

I prefer to die

By Awadi and Kirikou 2006 a popular 2006 rallying cry and lament by Senegalese rapper and record producer DJ Awadi
April 2014

ISSN. 2239-7949

April 2014

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Dakar Rooﬅops

Senegal 7 January 2011|Jeﬀ Aꢁaway

12

THE SENEGALESE TRANSNATIONAL DIASPORA AND ITS ROLE BACK HOME

The DIALOGue BeTweeN The SeNeGALeSe STATe AND ITS CITIzeNS ABROAD RePReSeNTS A CeNTRAL AReNA FOR DeTeRMINING FuTuRe PAThS AND OPPORTuNITIeS FOR The COuNTRy. The vAST SeNeGALeSe DIASPORA hAS A weIGhT IN DeTeRMINING eLeCTORAL ReSuLTS AND IN SPuRRING DeveLOPMeNT. IN ThIS FRAMewORK, The Re-DyNAMISATION OF CONSeIL SuPéRIeuR DeS SéNéGALAIS De L’exTéRIeuR AND PLANS FOR exTeNDeD SOCIAL PROTeCTION ARe AT The FOReFRONT OF The CuRReNT DeBATe.

by Sebastiano Ceschi & Petra Mezzetti

Senior Researchers at CESPI
Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale
I T A LY

The Senegalese Migration

Migrations have played, since the pre- Lebanese and French emigrants, be- and re-exporting migrants in these colonial period, an important role in came an important migratory pole af- countries as well as in Ivory Coast the west African social space, charac- ter Independence in 1960. For at least and Gabon, leading destinations the terized by great dynamism in human three decades, the country experien- recent past, which are losing ground mobility and shaped by a number of ced both emigration and immigration today (Fall, Carretero, Sarr 2010). In

migratory waves of populations (Fage ﬂows, mostly within the African con- this sense, Senegal is fully included

1969; Amin 1974; Amselle 1985). Sene- tinent, receiving foreign population in the west African migratory system gal, which from early colonial times mainly coming from Guinea Conakry, of which it represents one of the main has been a destination country for Guinea Bissau, Mauritania and Mali poles, aﬅer Nigeria and Ivory Coast,