Centers for Jobs, Migration, Development

According to Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), a “modern, holistic understanding of migration” is behind Germany’s plans to set up new centers for migration and development in partner countries. They are intended to support regular immigration to Germany for work and training purposes.

Where should the new centres for migration and development be located?

The centers are currently planned to be set up in nine countries: Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia. The centers are not starting from scratch: For example, they will be connected to national employment agencies or migration ministries, or can even build on the work of predecessor institutions. Since 2017, the BMZ has been funding centers in selected countries dealing with issues related to migration and job search, which are now being reoriented. For example, the Ghanaian-German migration advisory center in Accra, which has existed since 2017, is being expanded into the Ghanaian-European Center for Jobs, Migration and Development; the European Union is also contributing to the funding. Until now, the focus of the center has been on reintegrating returning migrants in Ghana and supporting them in setting up their own businesses. In the future, migration to Germany and the development benefits of the centers will become more of a focus. The host countries should benefit from migrants just as much as the destination countries.