The First Lady in a group picture with the British High Commissioner and other dignitaries
The Centre for Migration Studies (CMS) has begun the commemoration of its decade of existence at the University of Ghana with the launch of month-long activities.
Prof Samuel Agyei-Mensah stated that the event is aimed at highlighting the contributions of the centre to academic research on migration in the university and migration policies in the country as a whole.
The centre, established due to the lack of data on migration issues in the country, has become a place of centralised migration data, coordination of migration information and the dynamics of migration trends in the country.
Since its establishment 10 years ago, the centre has led the training and research uptake of migration-related issues both locally and internationally formulating various migration policy briefs generated from the researches it undertakes.
Sharing the history with participants at the launch, Prof Mariama Awumbila, Founding Director & Head of the Migration Out of Poverty research consortium of the centre, explained that the university set up the centre to look at emerging migration trends and the role they play in development realising the importance of migration issues and the opportunities it offers for development of a country.
She said the centre started from her little office at the Department of Geography with support from two other staff members, Stephen Adaawen and later Edward Aubonteng-Manu.
“We were allocated two offices in the old IAS building where we stayed from 2007 to 2010. We were finally allocated the top floor of the International Programmes in 2010 and moved in early 2011,” she added.
She stated that the centre is also mandated to fashion out policies on migration that sometimes has a lot of challenges but also has a lot of benefits and opportunities for development which can be harnessed while reducing the risks.
Achievements
Touching on the accomplishments of the centre, Prof Awumbila mentioned that the CMS is the only centre in West Africa undertaking a migration studies programme with students ranging from English speaking African countries and Europe.
She said the centre has lived up to its expectation in building the capacity of people through its teaching programmes, including MA in Migration Studies, M. Phil in Migration Studies, P.H.D in Migration Studies and short courses on specific areas of Migration Studies.
Prof Awumbila further pointed out that CMS has also contributed a lot in terms of research on migration surveys, including why people migrate, the destination of migrants, the kinds of jobs they do as migrants and the effect it has on their families back home as well as the gender dynamics of migration in Ghana.
“We have looked at the links between migration and the various aspects of society so we currently have a project, ‘Migration out of Poverty’ and we look at the poverty issue, migration and economic development, remittances and how it is bringing about poverty reduction.
We have also facilitated the development of the national migration policy and we have developed the Diaspora policy currently waiting for cabinet approval and other migration policies internationally like that of Sierra Leone and ECOWAS migration policy,” she said.
Activities
Dr Margaret Delali Badasu, former Head of CMS, disclosed that there will be a series of radio and TV talk shows from October 4 to 25, 2017 and public lecture on the theme ‘Passport Acquisition Processes’ on Wednesday, October18 at the International House seminar room.
“We will also have our alumni and anniversary dinner on October 25, 2017 and we will crown the celebration with a two-day international conference on the theme ‘Migration, Security & Development’ on Thursday 26th– 27 October at the ISSER Conference room,” she said.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri