Alice Gugulev, CEO of Global Development Incubator Africa, and PS Shadrack Mwadime during the signing of an MoU between State Department of Labour and Skills Development and Global Development Incubator Africa to enhance youth employability and economic growth /HANDOUTFor decades, public discourse on migration from Africa to Europe has been dominated by images of irregular movement. Recent research from the World Bank, which was the subject of a presentation to the Principal Secretaries Forum, provides an important correction.
The evidence shows that about 93 per cent of migration from East Africa, including Kenya, to European nations occurs through legal channels. This single fact reframes the entire policy debate. It shifts us from a narrative of crisis to a conversation about structure, skills and strategy.
The reality is that many African countries have become important destinations themselves, while at the same time African talent is in demand globally. Africa currently hosts over a third of the forcibly displaced population globally, a reminder of our continent's complexity as both origin and host.
What the World Bank's analysis, led by the Office of the Chief Economist for the Africa Region, makes clear is that mobility, when well-governed, is a productive force. The challenge for government is to harness its productive potential deliberately.
Kenya has been intentionally advancing a circular migration model. The logic is straightforward and aligned with our long-term development agenda. Young Kenyans access jobs and structured training in economies that are currently ahead in technology, industrial systems, healthcare and digital services.
They acquire global standards, workplace discipline and cutting-edge competencies, and then return, or circulate, to apply those skills within our own economy. This is not brain drain. It is brain circulation, designed to benefit both the individual and the nation.
The urgency of this approach is underlined by the skills gap. The World Bank analysis notes that average learning-adjusted years of schooling in West, Central and East Africa stands at 4.8 years, compared to 10.7 years in key European destination countries.
With Africa's workforce projected to grow by 600 million by 2050, closing this gap is not optional. It is the foundation for employability both locally and internationally. This is where government is consolidating and accelerating ongoing interventions.
Three complementary pathways are central to our work. First, Global Skills Partnerships. Under this model, we train youth for jobs both at home and abroad.
The examples of the Italy-Tunisia partnership for agriculture, hospitality and ICT and the Canada-Kenya partnership for healthcare workers, demonstrate how curricula can be co-designed to meet destination country standards while simultaneously raising domestic training quality.
The youth who do not travel remain more employable locally because their training has been benchmarked globally.
Second, Bilateral Labour Agreements. Kenya continues to formalise migration corridors through demand-driven quotas, enforceable worker protection provisions and sector-specific skills standards.
Our experience in the Eastern Africa-Gulf corridors has provided vital lessons on the importance of clear contracts, pre-departure preparation and welfare monitoring.
When corridors are formalised, exploitation reduces, remittances become more predictable, and the reputation of Kenyan talent is enhanced.
Third, recognition of prior learning and mutual recognition of qualifications. Too many highly qualified Kenyans abroad experience skills downgrading because their credentials are not recognised.
Government, together with destination partners, is advancing mutual recognition frameworks so that a certificate earned in Nairobi is understood and valued in Berlin, Ottawa or Rome. This protects the dignity of our workers and ensures Kenya exports skills, not just labour.
Circular migration, however, is incomplete without a deliberate strategy to connect the diaspora to home. The African diaspora holds powerful levers for youth employment.
The World Bank presentation highlights three critical areas that government is integrating into our national planning beyond 2030.
The first is diaspora finance. Reducing remittance transfer costs to below three per cent, from the current average of eight to nine per cent in Africa, would immediately increase household investment in education and enterprise.
Beyond remittances, instruments such as diaspora bonds and diaspora investment platforms with targeted tax incentives can channel savings towards youth employment infrastructure and SME finance.
These
are not new ideas; we are accelerating their implementation to create a more
predictable investment environment for Kenyans abroad.
The second is structured return and circular knowledge transfer. Programmes such as Ghana's Ahaspora and Rwanda's Diaspora Connect show the value of incentivising high-skilled returnees to mentor, co-found firms, and transfer technology.
Kenya is expanding similar
models, including co-funded returnee business incubators and structured
mentorship for start-ups in manufacturing, health tech and the green economy.
The returning worker brings back not just capital, but networks, standards and
enterprise culture.
The third is social security portability. For circular migration to work, workers must not lose their pension and social insurance rights when they cross borders.
Government is pursuing negotiations on portability across migration corridors, aligning with the SADC 2023 Protocol on Employment and Labour and encouraging operationalisation of similar provisions within the EAC and Ecowas.
Lowering barriers for migrants to contribute to home-country systems strengthens our social protection architecture and encourages long-term commitment to Kenya's development.
What does this mean for our post-2030 agenda? It means that labour mobility must be understood as part of our human capital strategy, not as an alternative to domestic job creation.
Our collective focus as government is on continuity: consolidating County Aggregation and Industrial Parks, strengthening MSMEs and accelerating value addition so that skills acquired abroad have productive landing points at home.
When a young technician returns from a specialised training in Germany's manufacturing sector, there must be a well-equipped park, a functioning supply chain and a supportive business environment waiting. That is how mobility accelerates national development rather than depleting it.
The role of the public service in this is central. Labour attaches, skills regulators, Tvet institutions and our foreign missions must operate as one facilitative system that anticipates problems, removes bottlenecks and deploys public resources with precision.
We must also ensure that information to young Kenyans is accurate, transparent and timely, countering misinformation about migration while upholding their right to make informed choices.
As we finalise our long-term blueprint, Kenya's proposition is clear. We will not shy away from global opportunities for our youth. We will organise them, govern them ethically, and ensure they feed directly into our national transformation.
Legal, safe and productive mobility is not a sign of failure. When deliberately managed through skills partnerships, protected corridors and diaspora engagement, it is a sign of a confident, competitive nation building its future workforce for both Kenya and the world.
