EU-IOM Joint Initiative

for Migrant Protection and Reintegration

Young Ethiopians often seek work opportunities outside their country not only because of the possibility of a better life abroad but because they are unable to stay in school.

Ethiopians account for the largest migrant movements in the Horn of Africa with the age of child migrants ranging between 13 and 17. In a few cases children as young as eight-years-old migrate on their own, according to a recent study.

On the region’s busiest migration route, also known as the ‘Eastern Route’ to the Gulf Countries - in particular Saudi Arabia - through Yemen, up to a fifth of those on the move are children.

New research by the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s Regional Data Hub (RDH) in the East and Horn of Africa has found that the inability to afford school can contribute to migrants’ decision to migrant. 

According to the latest report by RDH, ‘To Change my Life’, this is not because most of those who migrate do not value educational achievement, but rather that they do not have the means to continue their education.

Many research participants interviewed in Obock, Djibouti, reported dropping out of school prematurely to help provide for their families, not because they perceived education as a poor way to build a future in Ethiopia but because of financial and other barriers preventing them from staying in school and necessitating their migration. “Education is the best way to improve life … but I have nothing for my survival,” one migrant said.

Of the 2,140 respondents surveyed in Obock over half of the participants reported having no education or not having received more than primary school education and only 10 migrants in the sample completed tertiary education (bachelor’s degree or higher).

Several respondents said they would like to continue their education once they have achieved their goals abroad, or that they regretted leaving school. “You can’t pursue both education and money at the same time in Ethiopia,” a participant commented.

“You’ll either go after money or education, but I really regret leaving school.”

Among other findings by the study is that one in four surveyed migrants reported having migrated internally in search of employment before embarking on international migration journeys. Yet most said they had been unable to achieve their aspirations through internal migration due to a lack of job opportunities or access to employment networks, low wages and prohibitive living costs in urban centres.

In contrast, most participants had high expectations of the outcome of their journeys and the benefits of migrating to Saudi Arabia, with the expected median income of first-time migrants around 450 USD - more than seven times the median income reported in Ethiopia.

The report presents the final findings from both the quantitative and qualitative data collected in Obock, Djibouti. It complements an earlier quantitative background analysis titled ‘The Desire to Thrive Regardless of the Risk: Background Analysis by Migrant Category Obock, Djibouti’ with qualitative data and quotes, giving voice to the migrants to tell their stories.

The research is part of a larger, multi-stage and mixed methods study conducted by the RDH along the Eastern Route and aimed at better understanding the expectations, experiences, decision-making and risk perceptions of young Ethiopians along this migratory corridor. Structured surveys were administered to a sample of 2,140 young migrants between 15 and 29 years old at four congregation points in the Obock area, as well as the town centre of Obock and IOM’s Migrant Response Centre (MRC) in September and October 2019.

The final phase of the research is currently being conducted in communities of high emigration in Ethiopia and examines COVID-19's impact on migration aspirations, the role of families in migration decision-making, how remittances and their usage impact families and communities at origin and prospective migrants' knowledge of the migratory process and dangers involved.

The RDH was established in 2018 with the aim of supporting evidence-based, strategic and policy-level discussion on migration through a combination of initiatives. It is largely funded by the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa (the EU-IOM Joint Initiative).

About the EU-IOM Joint Initiative

Launched in December 2016 and funded by the European Union (EU) Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, the programme brings together 26 African countries of the Sahel and Lake Chad region, the Horn of Africa, and North Africa, the EU, and IOM around the goal of ensuring migration is safer, more informed and better governed for both migrants and their communities.

For more information please contact IOM Regional Office in Nairobi: Naomi Burnett, email: nburnett@iom.int, Julia Hartlieb, email: jhartlieb@iom.int and Wilson Johwa, email: wjohwa@iom.int