The ongoing Gulf crisis teaches us one lesson: that human resource-exporting countries such as Kenya not only need to celebrate the highs of exporting migrant workers, but also manage the lows of their abrupt return home.
On the one hand, there is a clear advantage in that young people get employed abroad to alleviate joblessness. On the other hand, when there is an unplanned return as we witness now, it can become a crisis. There is the short time happiness when people return from a conflict zone. Although some come home with savings and skills, others return with debt, trauma and uncertainty.
There has been a clear policy push to export workers from Kenya to many countries in Europe and the Middle East. This has led to the exponential growth of the number of Kenyans working in Gulf countries. A natural outcome of this is a surge in diaspora inflows from the Gulf, which has been a key foreign exchange earner for the Kenyan economy.
The flip side of this is the baggage that comes when migrant workers return home, in some cases unplanned, or when they experience difficulties in host countries. On numerous occasions, there has been press coverage of the Department of Diaspora Affairs helping Kenyans in distress abroad.
Yet there seems to be a lack of
coherent long-term policy to help migrant workers
settle back home. Reintegration, a vital
pillar in the migrants’ success
ecosystem, remains fragmented, underfunded and largely left to individuals and families
to pick up the pieces.
Transition can become difficult after being away from home for a long time.
Readjusting to life can be extremely challenging after experiencing a sudden return,
as is happening now. Many returnees may struggle to find jobs that match
the wages they earned abroad. Others lack formal certification/recognition for
skills acquired overseas and this may limit their employability. Additionally,
social reintegration may equally become a herculean task for returning
migrants, especially after long periods in the diaspora.
In situations of this nature, there should be a helping hand from the
government, which had encouraged them to seek employment abroad in the first place,
as done by many countries. Without structured support
from government, returnees may experience social displacement, unemployment and may resort to remigration under more precarious conditions. Therefore, the
government should move beyond ad hoc programmes and establish a national
reintegration strategy anchored in three key pillars:
First, the government should institute economic
reintegration.
There should be targeted programmes that link migrants to jobs. Moreover, there
should be entrepreneurship funding
that includes financial literacy training for returning migrants.
A good starting point is a Returnee Enterprise Fund that may, in the beginning, offer interest-free loans with business incubation support.
The second critical step is the establishment of skills recognition and certification. Many Kenyan migrants may acquire valuable skills abroad but return without getting formal recognition. A recognition of prior learning framework would allow returnees to convert experience into certified qualifications.
The third key point that should be undertaken is psychosocial and community reintegration support. Migration and expatriation research has shown that returnees often experience isolation, stigma or reverse culture shock. These psychological setbacks are exponentially accelerated when the return is unplanned.
Migrant-exporting countries have structured counselling and programmes that re-introduce migrants to life in their communities. Kenya should adopt a migrant returnee outreach scheme that proactively provides support services to its migrant communities. If implemented well, such schemes can have a profound effect on all returnees, especially vulnerable groups.
Other countries have implemented reintegration systems combining financial support, training and long-term assistance. The most successful approaches are coordinated, long-term and embedded in national development planning.
Lecturer and consultant at Oxus Management Consultants, Nairobi | https://oxusconsultants.com/
