The internal brain drain: foreign aid,hiring practices,and international migration |
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| Authors: | Nicolas Lemay-Hébert Louis Herns Marcelin Stéphane Pallage Toni Cela |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Senior Lecturer in the Department of International Relations, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University, Australia;2. Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Miami, United States, and Chancellor of the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development, Haiti;3. Rector of the University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg;4. Country Coordinator of the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development, Haiti. |
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| Abstract: | Building on empirical material gathered in Haiti, this paper advances a new and innovative understanding of the internal brain drain phenomenon—the poaching of local skilled workers by international organisations (IOs) or international non-governmental organisations (INGOs)— by conceptualising it as an equilibrium. This equilibrium is composed of two sets of tensions: (i) those between the salary conditions in the public sector and those on offer to local personnel working for IOs and INGOs; and (ii) those inherent in the dual salary scale used by IOs and INGOs for local and international staff. These two sets of tensions contribute in their specific ways to international migration, and, as such, the internal brain drain has a bearing on external brain drain dynamics. In addition, the paper addresses the difficult policy choices facing development and humanitarian organisations, since every set of policies that impacts on one side of the equilibrium is bound to affect its other side. |
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| Keywords: | aid economy humanitarian aid political economy of interventions |
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