Webinar: Does development drive or curb migration? Implications for policymaking

Does development lead to more or less migration? Within the policy, research, and practice communities, this is an age-old question that has been hotly debated. Conflicting evidence on this so-called ‘migration hump’ continues to drive this debate. What is the current state of debate? How can we best measure development, how can we further understand the ways development processes affect migration, and what are the implications for policymakers?

This webinar features a panel discussion bringing together researchers and practitioners to reflect on the current state of research on development and migration and at the community, meso, national and international level, with a focus on how this research can inform policymaking.

Panel

• Michael Clemens, Director of Migration, Displacement, and Humanitarian Policy and Senior Fellow at Centre for Global Development
• Jessica Hagen-Zanker, Senior Research Fellow Migration and institutional lead for MIGNEX, ODI
• Maureen Achieng, IOM representative, African Union
• Anna Schmidt, Policy Officer, Migration & Forced Displacement, European Commission’s DG Development and International Cooperation – EuropeAid

The subsequent Q&A will be moderated by Melissa Siegel, Professor of Migration Studies and institutional lead for MIGNEX, Maastricht University.

Format

Migration and asylum issues remain at the top of the agenda for European policymakers and public alike. In this webinar series, Zooming in on Migration and Asylum, a group of EU-funded Horizon 2020 projects, ADMIGOV, MAGYC, TRAFIG and MIGNEX, have joined forces to expand our collective knowledge base on some of today’s most pressing dynamics, including protracted displacement, the notion of crisis in the field of migration and asylum, internal displacement, refugee-driven solutions, and alternatives to current migration governance. The series aims to facilitate evidence-based discussions and action at multiple levels.

With its launch back-to-back with the World Refugee Day 2020, this webinar series draws upon the research teams involved in different H2020 projects and their respective findings. Starting in June 2020, the webinars are held once a month with the lead rotating between partners. Each 90-minute webinar will be conducted via the webinar platform Zoom and will feature a panel discussion followed by an audience Q&A.

Date and location

This webinar was held virtually on 24 November 2020 from 12:00 – 13:30 GMT / 13:00 – 14:30 GMT+1 (CET).