Mitigating the Consequences of Brain Drain in Developing Countries

Mitigating the Consequences of Brain Drain in Developing Countries Forum: General Assembly II Student Officer: Wendy Cho, Deputy Chair Introduction The term brain drain refers to the emigration of highly skilled or well-educated individuals from developing countries to developed countries. This can happen because of numerous factors: education, better quality of life, or higher income. The most obvious reason is the availability of better job opportunities in developing countries. Brain drain occurs most commonly when individuals leave less developed countries with fewer opportunities for career advancement, research, and academic employment and migrate to more developed countries. In the case of health care systems, the systems in low-income countries are already in a weak and fragile state, with a rapidly growing rate of mortality. The brain drain phenomenon immediately threatens the transfer and delivery of appropriate health care to the residents in Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs), contributing to the increase in mortality rate. For the purpose of decreasing the impacts of continuous brain drain dilemma, numerous professionals should be trained. The brain drain is frequently happening especially for health workers due to its unstableness is poorer countries. Most of the health professionals who begin their training and studying in LEDCs do not receive all the education required and desired; therefore, after fundamental training, they decide to move onto More Economically Developed Countries (MEDCs), where better opportunity for further training is easily accessible. Due to the financial setbacks experienced in LEDCs, there are not enough equipment and materials that can thoroughly train their health workers. The causes of brain drain might seem like they bring disadvantages only to less economically developed countries. However, this is not true, and the causes of brain drain influence the whole world. Therefore, it is significant to encourage all the nations to come in to a good solution that can solve the issue. History Immediately following the end of World War II, a significant number of skilled and educated scientists emigrated from Western Europe to the United States due to their experiences of hostility generated during the war. After the magnificent emigration, by the early 1950s, the concerns over the abrupt loss of researchers arose in the United Kingdom. In the UK, this phenomenon increased the weight of unsubstantiated and anecdotal hypotheses rather than proven scientific evidence. Around the 1960s, the issue became politicized with the help of the

Royal Society, which was the leading national organization that promoted scientific research in Britain and is the oldest national scientific society. The Royal Society published a report: Emigration of scientists from the United Kingdom in 1963, receiving a spotlight in the media. The report jeopardized the British economy, as it emphasized the seriousness of the issue. However, the Evening Standard newspaper eventually coined the term and encapsulated the concept brain drain. Due to these migrations, the investments made by general countries (based on the formations of their own nationals) were taken by the developed countries, where all the skilled and talented scientists had emigrated to. In other words, poorer countries were unintentionally providing technological aid to richer countries, leading to a new concept: reverse technological transfer. This concept was introduced during the United Nation Conference on Trades and Development on 1972. After the end of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Treaty, a treaty between West Germany and the People s Republic of Poland, a huge brain drain began from the Eastern European countries. This was not the only brain drain that occurred after the first magnificent emigration of scientists from United Kingdom to United States. Countless brain drains continuously occurred around the world, and a serious risk of brain drain is still observable today. Some scholars suggest that it is more appropriate to define the migrations of high skilled individuals as brain mobility instead of brain drain, since not all the migrants can find a job on the level of their skill and the world s economy also dominates the circulation of capitals, merchandise, and jobs. Despite the fact that the term brain drain now generally embraces the movement, or emigration, of researchers from any country, especially those from Less Economically Developed Countries, the concept of brain drain did not change in meaning and complexity. International Actions Remittances In order to solve the issue, countries decided to allow remittance, which is transfer of money from a foreign worker to an individual in his or her home country. Workers remittances have been significant for international capital flows, especially when it comes to labor-exporting countries. For example, in 2014, setting a new record, $436 billion was transferred from developed countries to underdeveloped countries. Furthermore, the global remittances exceeded $582 billion in 2015. Countries such as India and China received billions of US dollars as remittances in a year from their expatriates. Remittances from citizens living abroad occupies a significant proportion of foreign revenue in numerous developing countries. Remittances are an important factor that must be considered when approaching the influence of migration on developing economies and a developing world. Mexico has implemented some measures to redirect the resources from being spent on consumer goods but instead on investment by introducing cooperative banks. Incentives were given to increase the investment of remittances in Mexico, a country in which remittances takes a large proportion of income. Promoting creation of industry in developing countries The families in the home countries solely depend their income on remittances, and this income tends to reduce poverty. Since these remittances can be utilized to alleviate poverty, the decision to extract benefits to develop opportunities for others could be perceived as unjust.

However, such option seeks to diminish the margin of intermediation of the formal and informal agents who conduct the transfer at a cost of 10-25% of the sum transferred. The acknowledgement of the economic reality of remittances and the formalization of their transfer can allow the risks of the users, considering the fact that an undetermined but potentially large number of emigrants using these agents could be undocumented workers. Therefore, the costs of intermediation can be reduced. After the reduction, the benefits can be delivered to the recipients families. 1-2% of the remittance can also be used to support the development of opportunities in research and promotion of the industry in the home country. Thus, the financial support of the families will only allow the intermediaries experience of decrease in income. Key Players United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan As the organization began its Return of Qualified Afghans (RQA) project with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), UNAMA could facilitate the return of hundreds of skilled Afghans, who were scattered around the world with the purpose of contributing to nation-building and the rehabilitation of social services, including education and health. Through the RQA program, 1,433 Afghan experts living abroad have returned to Afghanistan from more than 30 countries to participate in recovering their own nation. With the collaboration of International Organization for Migration, UNAMA provided relocation assistance by including a special support package for female experts and helping them to procure secure placements in key development-related positions within ministries. The organization focuses on maximizing the relationship between migration and development. Through the Afghanistan government s request, UNAMA mandated to assist migration. The program is implemented in close cooperation with the nation s government and is designed to support the goals of the Afghan National Development Strategy. China As one of the developing countries, China also suffers from brain drain. However, China demonstrated good examples for other countries by participating in research that helps to build opportunities for national development. China became the only developing country participating in the Human Genome Project. Despite the fact that China is still a developing country that requires the help of other countries to prevent brain drain, the political decision was made due to its active advocacy and conviction in scientific leadership. It further participated in other institutions, and such participation could provide China with fruitful experience which contributed to future development. Sub-Saharan Africa Between 1980 and 1991, 75% of the skilled intellectuals in Ethiopia left the country to resettle in nations such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. Although many laborers and professionals have returned to African nations due to recent development, countries

within the Sub-Saharan region are still looking for more workers. North America Known for their development, nations in North America have had the benefits of extreme brain gain for the past few decades. Without surprise, many of the scientific finds the technological advancements come from professionals of foreign backgrounds who have emigrated as part of the brain drain and gain system. It is very usual and normal for North Americans to complain about their immigration policies, generating many foreign laborers and professionals studying in their respective countries. India Migration of Indian scientists and engineers to the United States has increased by 85% in 10 years. India is one of the countries that has been suffering from brain drain for quite a long time. Among the Asian countries, India continued its trend of being the top country for immigrant scientists and engineers, at 950,000 out of Asia s 2.96 million migrants. Possible Solutions: Receiving help from NGOs The United Nations should encourage the work of relevant NGOs such as Caritas Internationalis (CI) to continue their work to provide means for people that are working and residing in poor environment to be able to obtain a way to continuously have suitable conditions. The NGOs can help by developing infrastructures that provide adequate conditions for the workers, asking United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to send specialists to educate people regarding the negative impact of brain drain, requesting International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to provide basic necessities or humanitarian aid to improve the environment, and encouraging International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide financial aid to hose countries that do not have enough money to implement such actions. Providing incentives United Nations can further recommend governments to give incentives such as increasing the salary of workers including doctors and increasing the opportunity of employment for the purpose of brain gain. Fortunately, brain drain can be prevented while these solutions are being implemented. UN can ask Multinational Corporation to build companies or factories in third world nations to increase employment rate, as it receive help from entrepreneurs to initiate new network and set up collaborative environments. Furthermore, reverse brain drain can also be utilized to educate and develop economic situation. Reverse brain drain indicates the human capital moving from developed countries back to underdeveloped countries. Therefore, after the individuals are

educated they can return back to their own nations to educate the citizens. Receiving help from universities It is also possible to call upon nation states and relevant organizations to continue joint research programs with universities or other relevant research institutions, especially economics and humanitarian department, to come up with economically friendly and feasible solution. Raise Awareness The nations should work together to declare accordingly the importance of raising awareness of this issue, which will not only allow people to know the severity of the issue but also encourage them to actually support these countries that are suffering from brain drain. Utilizing widely known social media such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to make people realize the severity of the issue is very important since usually people from MEDCs can more easily access such media. Newspaper and magazines can be used in areas where internet is not accessible. Key Terms Brain drain Brain drain refers to the migration of skilled human such as scientists, engineers, and health professionals from developing countries to developed countries. Trained health professionals are required in every part of the world. However, talents are attracted by better standards of living quality of life, higher salaries, access to advanced technology and stable political conditions offered by the developed countries. This is a growing worldwide concern since is impact on the health systems in developing countries is magnificent. The effort that developing countries have invested in the education and training of young health professionals, translates into a loss of considerable resources after their migration. Reverse brain drain Reverse brain drain is a form of brain drain where human capital moves oppositely from a more developed country to a less developed country. These migrants may accumulate money, also known as remittances and develop skills overseas that can be used in their home country. After they reach their goals, whether it is to earn money or to study, the individuals return back to their nations, and this process is referred as reverse brain drain. The occurrence of reverse brain drain ultimately depends on the state of the country s development, and also strategies and planning over a long period of time to reverse the migration. MEDCs and LEDCs MEDCs are more economically developed countries whereas LEDCs are less economically developed countries. They are generally split by considering factors such as education, industrialization and a country s economy. Overall, MEDCs are recognized to have higher GDP rates than those of LEDCs. Brain drain also occurs due to distinction between MEDCs and LEDCs. Since the LEDCs are cannot provide sufficient resources to educate the individuals, citizens leave to MEDCs for better education and quality of life.

Brain circulation Brain circulation is a concept that indicates an alternative model to the idea of brain drain. When skilled individuals emigrate from a country, it can be argued that it represents a loss of intellectual capital and resource to the nation. But some have realized that brain drain is only one part of the story, and believed that the other part of the story relates to the social contacts and international experience the expatriates gain when working or studying in a foreign country. These experiences and social contacts can be valuable resources for the country of origin of these expatriates, and such process is called brain circulation. Human capital flight Human capital flight is another term used to describe the process of brain drain in an optimistic way. Research proved that there are significant economic benefits of human capital flight both for the migrants themselves and those who remain in the country of origin. For example, it has been found that emigration of skilled individuals to the developing countries can lead to greater education and innovation in the word. Furthermore, research also suggested that human capital flight can have a positive impact on democratization and political institutions in the country of origin.

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