Why Africa Needs Regional Skills Partnerships to Transform Intra-Continental Labor Migration

In 2024, 25.1 million Africans were living in other countries on the continent, highlighting that labor migration is a defining feature of Africa's economic landscape. Migrant workers are concentrated in sectors like agriculture and manufacturing, which together absorb about a fifth of migrant labor, with most holding medium-skilled jobs.

Global skill partnerships are agreements that link skills creation and mobility, training workers in origin countries for both origin and destination needs, and facilitating legal migration. However, most existing partnerships with non-African destinations are limited and misaligned with Africa's actual mobility patterns, which are predominantly regional and informal.

Bilateral Partnerships: The Current Model

Existing partnerships follow a bilateral pattern between an African country and a high-income destination, often in Europe, focusing on sectors like healthcare, construction, and IT. While they achieve some objectives, they have significant weaknesses:

• Ignoring intra-African mobility: 80% of African migration occurs within the continent, yet these agreements overlook such flows.
• Creating a two-track system: Domestic skill development is separated from migration pathways, neglecting workers who prefer regional opportunities.
• Lack of scalability: Each agreement is resource-intensive and tailored, making it hard to adapt to changing labor demands.
• Fragmented standards: Multiple bilateral deals lead to inconsistent qualifications and inefficiencies.

Why a Third Track Makes Sense

To address these gaps, global skill partnerships should evolve to a three-track model:

1. Domestic track – training for local labor markets
2. International track – pathways to high-income destinations
3. Regional track – structured mobility within Africa

The regional track recognizes that development flows in multiple directions, not just from Africa to the West.

Benefits of a Regional Mobility Track

• Formalizing existing mobility: Many Africans migrate informally; a regional track would standardize training, qualifications, and legal protections.
• Enhancing worker protection: Informal migration exposes workers to exploitation; structured pathways ensure labor standards and social protection.
• Addressing regional skills shortages: African economies face gaps in healthcare, construction, and technical trades; a regional track enables efficient sharing of human capital.
• Mitigating brain drain: By keeping talent within the continent, it creates a balanced mobility ecosystem.

Continental Frameworks

Africa already has foundations for this, including the African Union's Free Movement Protocol, the African Continental Free Trade Area, and regional economic communities like ECOWAS and EAC, which foster integration and cross-border labor mobility.

A More Realistic Model

Effective migration policy is not about imposing new patterns but making existing ones safer, fairer, and more beneficial. A three-track model expands opportunity without forcing choices, strengthens regional integration, and offers a grounded, context-sensitive approach. It starts by acknowledging the sectors absorbing most African migrant labor—agriculture, manufacturing, and medium-skilled jobs—and designing policies that match this reality.