Course

Welcome to this free course, Migration and the inclusive growth of Africa’s economies. It should take around 12 hours of study split into four three-hour sessions that cover the following:

• Week 1: What Is inclusive growth and why does it matter?
• Week 2: Migration and inclusive growth in Africa
• Week 3: Entrepreneurship, migration and inclusive growth
• Week 4: Policies and practices for inclusive growth in Africa

Africa has seen unprecedented growth and transformation as one of the world’s fastest-growing regions – but the gap between the richest and poorest in many countries is increasing. 

A key challenge that faces researchers, policy-makers and practitioners is how to translate this economic growth into opportunities for everyone in society, so that benefits are more fairly distributed. Migration to and within Africa has doubled in just over ten years as increasing numbers of people from both the global north and south are seeking to capitalise on opportunities in emerging markets. The role that migrants play in growth has historically been overlooked or seen through a limited lens of what they send ‘home’. Migration is often controversial, as popular perceptions and political tropes cast them as a drain on a country.

This free course looks at the nature of rising migration to ask how migrant entrepreneurship contributes to the growth and development of Africa’s economies. It does so by exploring ‘inclusive growth’, a notion that has become popular among multilateral agencies as an answer to deepening inequalities but that, to date, lacks a unifying understanding and sustained academic engagement. We will consider what more inclusionary growth is and what it looks like in relation to migration. 

The course has been developed by the Migration for Inclusive African Growth project at The Open University in partnership with African researchers at African Migration and Development Policy Centre (Kenya), Network for Migration Research on Africa (Nigeria), The Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ghana and The Centre for Policy Analysis, Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique). Completion of the course will lead to a course badge and statement of participation.

Before you start, listen to an introduction to the course from Giles Mohan, an Open University academic and principal investigator of the Migration for Inclusive African Growth project (MIAG).