Thomas Lacroix

The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the view of Coffey International Development, the consortium members of GSDRC or DFID. This consultancy assesses current migration research to determine the key factors which need to be considered in order to better understand the drivers of migration for poor people, as well as the social and economic costs and benefits of migration. The purpose of the consultancy is to carry out a scoping exercise that will inform the design of a new research programme on migration to be funded under the DFID Research Strategy. Empirical work has highlighted the development potential of migration, but has also emphasised the fundamental heterogeneity of the ways in which migration affects development in migrant sending localities, regions and countries. While the effects of migration and remittances on development indicators such as poverty, health, inequality, income growth, investment and general wellbeing are often positive, this is not automatically the case. Under unfavourable political and economic conditions, South-North and South-South migration can have adverse consequences and can even undermine the development potential of migrant sending countries. The challenge for migration policy and more general development policy is to shape conditions which will minimize the negative effects and maximise the benefits of migration for both sending and receiving countries as well as the migrants and their families themselves. Research has an important role to play in meeting this challenge, by providing the information and analysis crucial to evidence-based policy-making. This Scoping Study highlights the main gaps and deficiencies in existing knowledge on migration and development linkages. Due to the widespread research and policy focus on remittances and economic impacts of South-North migration, the socio-cultural and political impacts of migration on sending societies as well as the crucial role of South-South and internal migration in development and poverty reduction have often been neglected. Besides the need to address several data gaps, there is also a need to reconceptualise migration as an integral part of general development processes in order to develop a more realistic understanding of the complex migration-development linkages. This report identifies significant gaps in our current knowledge and associated research tasks, which may help to fill those gaps, in four overarching areas: • The drivers of migration: it is important to identify the economic, environmental, political, social and cultural forces which shape migratory dynamics in order to outline possible future migration …