Essay on Development Policy Diaspora skills for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s development – reviewing existing approaches and contemplating new ideas, with a focus on Switzerland’s Bosnian diaspora Lea Zanola MAS 2010 - 2012 NADEL - Centre for Development and Cooperation, ETH Zurich March 2012 Diaspora skills for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s development – reviewing existing approaches and contemplating new ideas, with a focus on Switzerland’s Bosnian diaspora By Lea Zanola, March 2012 This paper deals with the development approach of diaspora engagement, which is becoming increasingly important within the global migration and development debate. It summarizes and critically discusses main efforts that have been made in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) towards diaspora contribution to the country’s development via skills and knowledge transfer. It highlights the need for a systematic approach and identifies a one-sided orientation of projects and research towards the scientific diaspora and university graduates. While focusing on the Bosnian diaspora living in Switzerland, the paper further contemplates opportunities and challenges for projects in the field of vocational and practical skills transfer. MIGRANTS AS AGENTS OF DEVELOPMENT For the last few years, migration and development have no longer been considered separate, but interlinked and complementary issues. By and by, the focus of the debate has shifted from the negative effects of migration to the potential benefits migrants can offer as agents of development for both their home and host countries. Probably not by accident, the title of The Economist’s November issue is “The magic of diasporas – How migrant business networks are reshaping the world”. Indeed, migrants who are residing abroad – sometimes in the second or third generation – but still maintain ties to their homeland1, are 1 The GFMD is using the following working definition of a diaspora: A diaspora is composed of individuals originating from one country, living outside this country irrespective of their citizenship or nationality, who, individually or collectively, are or could be willing to contribute to the development of this country. Descendents of these individuals are also included in this definition. – 2 – (potential) agents of development2: many relatives are heavily depending on their emigrated family members’ remittances, for example, and many economies in developing and transitional countries rely on diaspora businesses, investments and knowledge. Consequently, efforts are made to link migration with development goals. For this reason, the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) was established in 20073, and new focal points within development organizations4 were created. Research activity has increased, mainly concentrating on the development impact of migrant remittances5 and the scientific diaspora6. Comprehensive approaches to manage migration are being identified and relevant strategies as well as concrete instruments developed. Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is a good example for illustrating ongoing trends towards diaspora engagement and for showing the complexity of this topic. Efforts are made both from governmental and international institutions to “mobilize” the large diaspora for cooperation and contribution. However, the way from the idea to a concrete realization is far and complex. BiH is still at the beginning and faces various problems: the Diaspora Department of the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees as the official body responsible for diaspora issues (see later) has limited capacities and power, knowledge about the 2 See for example Wickramasekara, Piyasiri (2009): Diasporas and Development – Perspectives on Definitions and Contributions. Perspectives on Labour Migration No. 9, International Migration Programme. Geneva: ILO 3 The GFMD (www.gfmd.org) is the largest and most comprehensive global platform for informal and voluntary dialogue and cooperation on international migration and development. The aim is to promote dialogue and partnerships between and among governments, international organizations, the civil society, and other non-governmental actors in order to maximize migration’s developmental benefits while minimizing its negative impacts. The annual meetings were held in Brussels (2007), Manila (2008), Athens (2009) Puerto Vallarta (2010) and Geneva (2011). 4 The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), for instance, recently added the topics of labour migration and diaspora involvement to its thematic basket (www.deza.admin.ch/en/Home/ Themes/Migration), and formed a learning network also active in these fields (www.sdc-migration.ch). The German GIZ created an own section on migration and development under the topic of economic development and employment (www.gtz.de/en/themen/ wirtschaft-beschaeftigung/15634.htm). 5 For BiH see for example the IASCI/IOM studies from 2009 (Maximising the Development Impact of Migration-related Financial Flows and Investment from Austria to Bosnia and Herzegovina) and 2010 (Maximising the Development Impact of Migration-related Financial Flows and Investment to Bosnia and Herzegovina) as well as the research by Nermin Oruc (2011): Remittances and Development – The Case of Bosnia. 6 For BiH see for example: Nikolic, Sara; Mraovic, Borisa; Cosic, Emina (2010): The Scientific Diaspora as the Brain Gain Option – Exploring the Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ACIPS Association Alumni of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies. – 3 – diaspora is scarce, and their “mobilization” is challenging. Therefore, current initiatives tend to be rather limited, unsystematic and one-sided. To support home-country governments in such intensions, the Migration Policy Institute developed a roadmap for diaspora engagement (see Annex II).7 It highlights essential steps towards an effective engagement of diaspora in development: 1. Identify goals and capacities 2. Know your diaspora 3. Build trust 4. Mobilize stakeholders BIH’S DEVELOPMENT NEEDS AND OBJECTIVES The roadmap for diaspora engagement instructs governments to start with the identification of country development goals and own capacities. Gaps where external contribution is needed can thus be identified, and the development concerns be matched wit available resources from the diaspora. One of BiH’s major and long-term development challenges is the widespread and growing (youth) unemployment. General unemployment increased from 23.4% in 2008 to 27.6% in 2011. The youth unemployment rate rose in the same period from 47.5% to 57.9%.8 Accordingly, employment is one of the six strategic goals of the country’s Draft Strategy of Development 2010- 2014 (hereafter “Country Development Strategy”, resp. CDS), which aims at securing a more competitive, stable and self-sustainable economy with a long- term perspective of EU integration.9 7 Graph and description in: Global Forum on Migration and Development, Athens, 4-5 November 2009, Background Paper Roundtable 1, Session 1.2: Engaging diasporas and migrants in development policies and programs – Their role? Their constraints? Available at: http://www.gfmdathens2009.org/ index.php?id=59&L=0. The IOM also provides relevant information to policy makers in the following publication: Pinto-Dobernig, Ilse (Ed.) (2006): Engaging Diasporas as Development Partners for Home and Destination Countries – Challenges for Policymakers. IOM Migration Research Series, No. 26. Available at: www.iom.int 8 Data are taken from the Labour Force Survey, conducted by the Statistical Agency of BiH on an annual basis, using the ILO definition of unemployment. Youth unemployment figures apply to young people aged 15 to 24. 9 The Draft Strategy of Development has been prepared – coordinated by the Directorate for Economic Planning – in cooperation with governments’ representatives, social partners, civil society and the academic – 4 – An obvious reason for the bleak employment situation is the shortage of job opportunities due to an insufficient demand for labour, especially in the aftermath of the economic crisis10, and the low job creation due to a difficult business environment.11 This vacancy gap, however, explains only part of the problems in BiH’s labour market: structural deficiencies are hindering the matching between existing vacancies and the unemployed (information gap), as well as the equipment of graduates with employable skills. This skills mismatch becomes evident if, despite huge unemployment figures, many job vacancies cannot be filled. A majority of BiH companies see two main limitations of the existing labour force: first, job-seekers’ outdated or inadequate skills – both occupation-specific technical skills as well as generic “soft” skills; second, insufficient experience and performance related to practical work assignments.12 The wood and metal sector, the hotel and restaurant industry as well as the tourism sector for instance have difficulties in finding skilled labour,13 while unemployment is most widespread among graduates of vocational schools14. The BiH government acknowledged the lacking labour market orientation of vocational education and training (VET) provision and vocational skills development (VSD) and included measures in the CDS. Until now, reform efforts have mainly concentrated on the formal VET sector15, while community in 2010. Its strategic objectives are (1) macro-economic stability, (2) competitiveness, (3) employment, (4) sustainable development, (5) EU integration, and (6) social inclusion. 10 BiH belongs to the