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Global Diasporas and Development: Socio-economic, Cultural and Policy Perspectives | 2014

The Link with a Home Country

Gabriela Tejada; Metka Hercog; Christiane Kuptsch; Jean-Claude Bolay

The benefits that highly skilled migrants can bring to their home countries are increasingly regarded as being important for development, and consequently, many countries are now looking to take advantage of the experiences of their diasporas. The policies of home countries are usually given a position of prominence whenever diaspora engagement is on the agenda. Nevertheless, migrants who have successfully settled in their host country are in the best position to contribute to their country of origin. Therefore, the institutional environment and policies of the host countries play an equally significant role with regard to the opportunities that diasporas have in terms of gaining relevant expertise and being able to mobilise. This paper looks at host country environments in several European countries, and its aim is to identify good practices of enabling policies to get skilled diasporas involved in the socio-economic development of their home countries. The paper is based on a comprehensive policy review of France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland with respect to their migration and development nexus and on in-depth interviews with key experts in this field. In addition, it provides first-hand information on the subject from skilled Indians in Europe. India is often cited as a positive example of a country that has benefited from skilled migration through reverse investment flows and the world’s highest transfers of remittances and expertise. While several Indian diaspora knowledge networks are present in the USA, we know relatively little about the activities of Indian professionals in Europe. Until recently the countries of continental Europe barely existed on the map of mobile Indian professionals. Therefore, this paper seeks to fill two gaps in the existing literature: first of all, it examines the conditions of Indian professionals in new destination countries, and secondly, it explores the impact of structural differences between host countries and their ability to provide a fruitful environment for diaspora engagement in home-country development.


Archive | 2012

Technologies and Innovations for Development

Jean-Claude Bolay; Magali Schmid; Gabriela Tejada; Eileen Hazboun

Technological innovation – combined with scientific research – has always constituted a driving force of transformation in our societies. At the same time, it is no longer simply possible to transfer technologies from the North to the South; it is also essential to consider technical innovations that are adapted to the social, environmental, cultural and economic conditions of receiving countries, and which can be appropriated by their potential users and as such prove to be real technologies for fostering development. The first International Scientific Conference on the topic organized by the UNESCO Chair Technologies for Development at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in 2010 focused on its four priority sectors: Technologies for Sustainable Development of Habitat and Cities, ICTs for the Environment, Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Technologies for the Production of Sustainable Energy. This volume reflects the main outcomes of the conference and provides some significant orientation and success criteria for the effective implementation and use of innovative technologies, their aims, their particular applications in the context of developing countries, their accessibility for users, and their appropriation by producers and stakeholders in the field of development both in the North and South, thus ensuring their sustainability. This kind of scientific cooperation also highlights the added values for northern researchers in sharing their knowledge and know-how, leading to a real win-win partnership. The authors gathered within this book include representatives from academic and research institutions and other organizations from diverse countries and offer a significant synergy of competences, approaches and disciplines.


Indian skilled migration and development: To Europe and back | 2014

Transferring Skills Upon Return: Matching Aspirations in the Host Countries with the Reality Back in India

Gabriela Tejada; Md. Zakaria Siddiqui

This chapter discusses the factors that influence the development aspirations of skilled Indians living in Europe and of those who have returned to India. While India is seen as a country that benefits from the positive effects of skilled migration, we have yet to develop a comprehensive understanding of the individual motivations that cause skilled Indians to apply their foreign-earned knowledge and skills to the development of the home country. There is also a shortage of evidence about whether these motivations actually materialise after return. Our analysis is an effort to uncover the factors that encourage motivated skilled returnees and diaspora members to effectively share their experience and knowledge for the broad-based development of India. Using a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the perceptions and expectations of skilled Indians, we identify the individual and home country factors that influence both their development aspirations and the changes to their social position after they return to India. While skilled Indians in Europe link their development aspirations to their return plans and believe that Indian society can benefit from their accrued expertise, they face several obstacles during the process of transferring knowledge to the local context. We observe that the desire to contribute to development is associated with disadvantageous identities and that socially underprivileged people register the greatest positive effects in terms of social position and influential role in society as a result of their foreign exposure. The findings point to important policy implications at an organisational and a country level i.e. for India and the European countries. At an organisational level, we suggest changes to the local work culture and structures to allow the skills and experience of the returnees to be recognised and harnessed effectively. At a country level, our analysis shows the need of policies and environments that facilitate the transfer of knowledge by returnees so that it can be used to promote balanced development in India.


Indian skilled migration and development: To Europe and back | 2014

Indian skilled migration and development: an introduction

Gabriela Tejada; Uttam Bhattacharya

By offering new empirical evidence on Indian skilled migration, this volume attempts to fill two gaps in the literature. Firstly, it contributes to a better understanding of the activities of Indian skilled professionals and students in continental Europe. This is a rather recent phenomenon and one that has been particularly under-researched. The topic is an important one since the institutional settings of host countries are not only significant in terms of their attractiveness for skilled migrants but also in how they facilitate the migrants’ exchange of knowledge with the home country and influence their mobility plans, including those related to possible return. Secondly, it offers an analysis of Indian skilled return migration and of the circumstances in which this occurs. It also examines the experiences of returnees by focusing on their ability to transfer the knowledge and skills they have gained abroad to the local context and the impact generated on their immediate surroundings. In the case of India, the return option has not been fully understood and the settings required for actual development leverage have not been thoroughly explored. The studies complied in this volume examine the factors in the home and host countries at both an individual and a country level that influence the possibility of skilled Indians applying their foreign-earned knowledge, skills and expertise to the Indian context. These studies may help to illuminate the literature further within the context of India–Europe high skilled migration issues and to formulate effective policy options for both the country of origin and countries of destination.


Archive | 2019

Transnational Investments of the Tunisian Diaspora: Trajectories, Skills Accumulation and Constraints

Sylvia Garcia Delahaye; Gabriela Tejada

This chapter is based on recent empirical data on Tunisians living in Switzerland. It focuses on their migration pathways and experiences, and it examines their propensity to engage in entrepreneurial and business activities in their home country. Despite the hopes generated by the revolution of 2011, many people in Tunisia, especially young males from disadvantaged regions, have not enjoyed the positive changes in employment opportunities and professional prospects. This has led to them emigrating to Europe to ensure an income for themselves and their families back in Tunisia. An online survey accompanied by follow-up interviews enabled us to observe the experiences of Tunisian diaspora entrepreneurs and their current and potential future transnational business and investment activities. This chapter shows how the internationalization and accumulation of networks and skills by Tunisians, resulting from the multiple destinations they traversed before arriving in Switzerland, has influenced their professional capacities and their business and entrepreneurial projects in Tunisia. Tunisians feel a strong motivation to contribute to the development process in their home country, and they tend to invest and open businesses in their villages of origin. Several enablers and obstacles that influence their actions are observed. The conclusions include a number of policy recommendations based on the experiences and aspirations of these Tunisians.


Archive | 2016

Skilled Indians in Europe: Knowledge Transfer and Social Impact

Gabriela Tejada

The chapter argues that the knowledge and talents skilled migrants gain abroad can help to expand the agency of individuals, and accordingly, that they have the potential to contribute to social transformations. However, it is shown that significant changes to India’s workplace culture and structure are necessary to facilitate and enable knowledge and expertise transfer from skilled migrants and translate it into development. It is concluded that the social and economic environment together with the social culture in the origin country largely condition the extent to which expertise and talent from skilled migrants are effectively utilised. The chapter is based on a study founded on a recent international research project into Indian skilled migration which draws on qualitative and quantitative research methods.


Diasporas, Development and Governance | 2016

Knowledge Transfers Through Diaspora Transnationalism and Return Migration: A Case Study of Indian Skilled Migrants

Gabriela Tejada

The chapter is based on new empirical data collected through primary surveys and in-depth interviews with Indian skilled migrants in Europe and with returnees in India. The study found that Indian skilled professionals, scientists and students are contributing to their home country while they are abroad and after they return. These contributions are manifested in various channels of engagement including financial remittances and investments, social capital, knowledge transfer through diaspora interventions and physical return. The study focused on knowledge transfer through diaspora transnationalism and physical return to the home country. The chapter highlights the development aspirations of skilled Indians in Europe and illustrates the transnational actions they engage in to transfer knowledge and promote positive linkages. While Indian skilled professionals, students and researchers in Europe link their development aspirations to their return plans, and believe that Indian society can benefit from the knowledge and expertise they accumulate overseas, the reality is that they are faced with several obstacles within the local system in India. They also encounter difficulties when transferring the specialized knowledge and technical skills gained abroad after they return.


Indian skilled migration and development: To Europe and back | 2014

Globalisation Challenges and Knowledge Transfer from the Indian Scientific Diaspora

Jean-Claude Bolay; Gabriela Tejada

This chapter looks at the opportunities and uncertainties of globalisation in terms of the production of world knowledge, with an emphasis on the factors that limit the distribution and fair use of this knowledge for the benefit of less advanced countries. We show how existing disparities between developed countries and emerging and developing countries relating to the level of higher education, the resources available for research and access to technologies and innovation have made scientific cooperation an indispensable mechanism for advancement. Having established this context, we then turn our attention to the transfer of knowledge for the benefit of developing countries, as promoted by the scientific diaspora. Taking the case of India and its relationship with Europe as an example, we present a qualitative analysis based on interviews held with Indian students and researchers who are either living in Europe or who have returned to India, and with some other key informants. India is a paradigmatic case in terms of knowledge, science and technology insofar as the country is a source of skilled personnel for many developed countries, including the European countries that have become popular as new destinations. We look at three determinants for channelling knowledge transfer: institutional mechanisms for bilateral cooperation, transnational collaboration and the affective capital of migrants. We observe how these channels foster scientific cooperation and strengthen the critical mass in the country of origin. While our findings point to a trend whereby scientific diasporas become carriers of knowledge for their countries of origin in the South, there is a need for further studies to examine the specific level of impact that these forms of knowledge transfer generate in the Indian context and to see whether the local society obtains actual benefits from them.


Global Migration Perspectives of the Global Commission on International Migration | 2005

Enhancing development through knowledge circulation: A different view of the migration of highly skilled Mexicans

Gabriela Tejada; Jean-Claude Bolay


Migration, Transnationalism and Development in South-East Europe and the Back Sea Region | 2017

Scientific diasporas, transnationalism and home-country development: evidence from a study of skilled Moldovans abroad

Gabriela Tejada; Vitalie Varzari; Sergiu Porcescu

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Jean-Claude Bolay

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

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Metka Hercog

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

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Sylvia Garcia Delahaye

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

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Christiane Kuptsch

International Labour Organization

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Yves Pedrazzini

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

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Md. Zakaria Siddiqui

University of South Australia

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