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1. Why and How Multilateral Development Banks Support Improved Outcomes for Economic Migrants and Refugees

Author:
Helen Dempster, Martha Guerrero Ble, and Stephanie López Villamil
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
Economic migrants and refugees can bring both benefits and costs to their hosting countries. If well-integrated, they can support themselves, their families, and their hosting countries as producers and consumers. Both economic migration and forced displacement are therefore integrally linked with development outcomes. Recognizing this, multilateral development banks (MDBs) are supporting their beneficiary member countries to improve outcomes for economic migrants and refugees, in the form of billions of dollars in grants and loans, as well as technical assistance, policy dialogues, and knowledge exchanges. This paper provides an introductory snapshot of some of the financing instruments, projects, and strategies used; particularly innovative approaches; and challenges MDBs face in expanding their engagement. It is hoped this paper will be useful to anyone who engages with MDBs and wants to understand how they engage on economic migration and forced displacement, particularly as these issues continue to grow in importance.
Topic:
Development, Migration, World Bank, Refugees, and Banking
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. Adaptive Management in Refugee Programming: Lessons from Re:Build

Author:
Helen Dempster and Nicol Herbert
Publication Date:
06-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
Humanitarian and development crises are increasingly protracted and complex, lacking clear solutions and paths to reach the most-affected individuals and communities. Those working in such crises must be creative, adaptive, and supported by frameworks that promote efficient and effective responses. Adaptive management is a learning-oriented project management approach that centralizes proactive and ongoing reflection on what is and is not working, adapting the program design or operational delivery based on this new information. This approach is being implemented by a five-year program—Refugees in East Africa: Boosting Urban Innovations for Livelihoods (Re:Build)—aiming to achieve economic self-reliance for urban refugees and other vulnerable residents of Kampala, Uganda and Nairobi, Kenya. The evidence for how to best support refugee economic self-reliance is limited; even less is known about what is effective for urban refugees specifically. Re:Build is utilizing adaptive management principles to navigate this uncertainty with the goal of achieving sustained outcomes for clients and more information about what works. While adaptive management offers a range of potential benefits, it requires implementers and donors to operate in new ways. After summarizing the existing adaptive management literature, this paper outlines lessons from the first two years of Re:Build’s attempts to implement an adaptive program. It concludes by sharing practical recommendations, for both implementers and donors, on how to better live out these principles.
Topic:
Development, Humanitarian Aid, Refugees, and Humanitarian Crisis
Political Geography:
Africa and Global Focus

3. Why and How Development Agencies Facilitate Labor Migration

Author:
Helen Dempster and Beza Tesfaye
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
Development agencies in high-income countries spend a large amount of both official development assistance (ODA) and other forms of financing on migration programming. While most of this spending is aimed at deterring migration, increasingly more is being focused on facilitating migration: to the high-income country itself; within and between low- and middle-income countries; and supporting people on the move and the diaspora. This paper, written by the Center for Global Development and Mercy Corps, aims to explore why and how development agencies in high-income countries facilitate labor, or economic, migration, and how they have been able to justify and expand their mandate in this area. Based on interviews with nine development agencies, we find that development agencies use a range of arguments to justify their work in this area, including supporting economic development and poverty reduction in partner countries while also meeting labor market demands at home or other countries. Yet expanding a mandate in this area requires substantial cross-government coordination and political buy-in, both of which are difficult to achieve. It also requires the ability to be able to use ODA to facilitate labor migration, which is currently up for debate. As development agencies seek to expand their work on labor migration, it will be necessary to define shared goals and start with pilot projects that focus on low-hanging fruit, while maintaining a focus on development and poverty reduction.
Topic:
Development, Migration, Diaspora, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Understanding the Cost-Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccination in Nigeria

Author:
Helen Dempster, Jennifer Dew, Samuel Huckstep, Martina Castigliono, and Cassandra Zimmer
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM) calls on countries of destination to both expand regular migration pathways and take steps to increase the development impact of these pathways. Migration can have a positive impact on the economic development of migrants themselves, their families, their countries of origin, and their country of destination, if aspects such as integration, remittances, and skill transfers are prioritized. This paper, produced by the Center for Global Development (CGD) and the UK office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), outlines lessons for the UK Government to implement if they are to increase the development potential of both their existing and new immigration pathways, particularly in the agriculture, nursing, and green technology sectors
Topic:
Development, Migration, Immigration, and Reform
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

5. Addressing the “Root Causes” of Irregular Migration from Central America: An Evidence Agenda for USAID

Author:
Sarah Rose, Reva Resstack, Helen Dempster, Elisa Cascardi, and Jeremy Weinstein
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
In recent decades, the number of people migrating irregularly from the three Northern Triangle countries of Central America—El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—has been increasing, putting pressure on the Biden-Harris administration to address the root causes of irregular migration and deliver “results.” Evidence suggests that these countries are undergoing a demographic and economic transition, hence emigration pressure will likely remain for the coming decades. Yet there is much an entity like USAID, the United States’ largest development agency, can do to moderate the short-run drivers of irregular migration such as violence, climate shocks, lack of economic opportunity, and inaccessibility of legal migration pathways. In this policy paper, we outline the available evidence within these areas that is directly pertinent to irregular migration and identify key evidence gaps to be filled by future research and evaluation. We conclude by outlining five recommendations for how USAID can ensure its work is evidence-based and contributes to new learning, supporting policymakers in this field for decades to come.
Topic:
Development, Immigrants, USAID, Influence, and Migrants
Political Geography:
Central America, North America, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and United States of America