Transnational Connections and Education in the Somali Context

Abstract

International migration or displacement is usually represented as a ‘brain drain’ for emigrants’ countries of origin, particularly in Eastern Africa. There are, however, other potential strands in the relationship between people's migration and education that have received less attention, but merit consideration, including transnational connections such as migrants’ remittances to their families. This paper focuses on the Somali context, where conflict both severely damaged the educational system and provoked mass emigration. The paper argues that migration and transnational connections shape access to, choices about, and provision of formal education in contemporary Somali society. It identifies and explores three key channels of influence: emigration and return to the country of origin; migrants’ cash remittances to family members; and diaspora philanthropy. Related policy issues are also considered.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the research participants for their time, Africa Educational Trust and Oxford University African Studies Centre for their assistance, and participants at the Conference on Somali Remittances on 1–2 December 2005 (organised by the World Bank/UNDP in Washington DC) for their useful comments.

Notes

1. In this paper, the terms ‘the Somali regions’ and ‘Somalia’ are used to refer to the territories of the Republic of Somalia as of independence in 1960. Other key geographical terms used include ‘Somaliland’, where a self-declared Republic was established in 1991, and the regional administration of ‘Puntland’. UNDP, Human Development Report.

2. Ouaked, ‘Transatlantic Roundtable’.

3. Ouaked, ‘Transatlantic Roundtable’.

4. Bloch, ‘Labour Market Participation’.

5. Pellegrino, ‘Trends in Latin American Skilled Migration’.

6. Meyer, ‘Network Approach versus Brain Drain’; AFFORD, ‘Maximising the Benefits of Migration and Development’.

7. Poirine, ‘Theory of Remittances’.

8. Goldring, ‘Family and Collective Remittances’.

9. Cox and Ureta, ‘International Migration, Remittances, and Schooling’.

10. Acosta and Lopez. ‘Impact of Remittances’.

11. Massey and Basem, ‘Determinants of Savings, Remittances, and Spending Patterns’; DeSipio, ‘Sending Money Home’.

12. Acosta and Lopez. ‘Impact of Remittances’.

13. Lubkemann, ‘“Indigenous Humanitarianism”’.

14. Samatar, Socialist Somalia; Laitin and Samatar, Somalia – Nation In Search of a State.

15. Based on data from UNICEF's Survey of Somalia's Primary Schools (2004); pre-war UNESCO data available on www.uis.unesco.org and UNDP (2001).

16. UNICEF, Survey of Somalia's Primary Schools.

17. UNDP, Human Development Report.

18. UNICEF, Survey of Somalia's Primary Schools.

19. UNICEF, Survey of Somalia's Primary Schools.

20. Buckland, ‘Post-conflict Education’.

21. Lindley, ‘Dynamics and Effects of Remittances’, ‘Remittances in Fragile Settings’, and ‘The Early Morning Phonecall’.

22. Simons, Networks of Dissolution.

23. European Commission, ‘Strategy for the Implementation of Special Aid’.

24. Ministry of National Planning and Coordination, Somaliland in Figures.

25. Hansen, ‘Revolving Returnees’.

26. Interviews with parents, children and principal, March 2005.

27. Medani, Report on Internal Migration and Remittance Inflows.

28. Academy for Peace and Development, Socio-Economic Survey 2004.

29. Primary and secondary schools supported by the Somaliland Ministry of Education ask for a parental contribution of around $1 and $2 a month respectively, and private school fees can cost $15 or more per month, with the University of Hargeisa charging fees of $270 plus per year (based on interviews with teachers, March and August 2005).

30. For detailed survey findings, see Lindley, ‘Dynamics and Effects of Remittances’.

31. Ahmed, ‘Remittances and their Economic Impact’; UNDP, Human Development Report; King, Hargeisa Urban Household Economy Assessment; Academy for Peace and Development, Socio-Economic Survey.

32. UNICEF, Survey of Somalia's Primary Schools.

33. Names have been changed and some details altered to preserve anonymity.

34. Description based on interviews with principal and conversations with students and teachers.

35. Interview and personal correspondence.

36. Personal correspondence, November 2005.

37. Johson and Sedaca ‘Diasporas, Emigrés and Development’.