Migration is an aid policy priority. The Government has set different and clearer goals related to migration in development cooperation. Development cooperation is aimed to become a tool to combat irregular migration and its root causes and increase the number of migrants returning to their former homelands. But what are the links between migration and aid? What are the problems we want to solve and which tools are most effective? These are some of the questions that the Expert Group for Aid Studies has analysed in a number of reports.
War, conflict, climate change and disasters mean that the world is facing mass migration with unprecedented challenges. The intersections between migration and development cooperation are many and a comprehensive body of research indicates complicated and difficult relationships.
For example, migration may contribute to economic growth, or it may be the result of economic growth. If development cooperation contributes to economic growth in the recipient country, in the short term it will often increase migration, as poor people have increased economic opportunities to migrate should they feel inclined to do so. Hence economic growth in a developing country generates a migration hump (Lucas, 2019).
Support for agriculture, health and education reduces migration
Studies suggest that agricultural aid can increase opportunities to earn a livelihood from farming and thus to remain on the land. Using development assistance to improve healthcare and reproductive health and increase access to basic education can also serve to disincentivise migration (Lucas, 2019).
Integration helps refugees become self-sufficient
Aid to prevent forced migration, to support neighbouring countries that host refugees and to facilitate return migration appears to be most likely to reduce migration. However, these are underfunded areas.
One EBA/OECD study (Gagnon et al., 2022) notes that the focus has shifted towards integration of forced displaced with local host communities., Effective integration enables forcibly displaced persons to become more self-reliant and making host communities more resilient (Burlin, 2021). In reality, however, the majority of forcibly displaced persons have no opportunity to earn their own livelihoods. In such situations, access to state services, social security and local work permits is critical.
Support for conflict prevention, disaster preparedness and reconstruction makes an impact
A survey of migration interventions within Swedish development cooperation suggests that activities thus far are difficult to assess, and that it is unclear which types of problems these interventions are expected to solve (Andersen, 2021).
The Government’s intention is to condition parts of the development cooperation on partner countries reception of returning citizens who have been denied asylum in Sweden. The authors of a study commissioned by EBA (Guillaumont et al., 2023) argue that the research is unequivocal: this type of conditionality is ineffective. According to literature reviews, something that can make aid more effective is to counter and deal with forced displacement. Conflict prevention and support for emergency preparedness and reconstruction can be particularly important (Guillaumont et al., 2023; Lucas, 2019).