MIGRATION

Migration has been one of the most important issues facing Albania throughout the transition period. About one million Albanians have left the country in large waves of migration since 1990. Combined with a recent influx of returning migrants, both internal and external migration continues to be trends affecting the economic and social development of Albania. CESS, through its research-based projects, has sought to examine some of the most relevant dimensions of migration in Albania in an effort to understand and qualify the phenomenon. These subjects include:

• Brain Gain/Brain Drain
• Remittances
• Health Care Migration
• Returned Migrants
• Potential Migrants

Upcoming Projects: 

Maximizing the Positive Impacts of Return Migration

The existing migration patterns make Albania one of the countries most affected by international and internal migration. With more than 25 percent of the population having left the country since 1990, Albania has reached a stage of maturity in its mobility trends, with return migration also now beginning to kick in. As of now, no concerted effort has been made to understand and harness the substantial financial, human and social capital gained by returned migrants after their periods abroad. As such Albania has still not utilised the full potential of returning migrants as a powerful source of capital for the socio-economic development of Albania.

The aim of this project is to understand: a) the conditions required to support sustainable return, and b) to provide attractive and viable incentives to encourage their investing their savings/remittances in productive endeavours. Quantitative and qualitative techniques will be used to identify initiatives leading to the creation of proper grounds for the sustainable and effective return of long-term migrants. By examining the goals and intentions of long-term migrants as well as the conditions and obstacles to durable return, this study seeks to create an integrated profile of returning long-term migrants. The hypothesis is that long-term migrants wish to return when Albania has reached a certain economic and social development as well as attained some political stability. With this research, targeted policies, actions and initiatives can be produced which reflect the actual aspirations and objectives of long-term migrants.

Highly Skilled Migration

The loss of the highly skilled is seen to be blighting the potential for Albania's development. The study on Highly Skilled Migration from Albania: An Assessment of Current Trends and the Ways Ahead  funded by the Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty discusses the effects on Albania’s economic and social development of the emigration of Albania’s lecturers, researchers and intellectuals, an estimated 50 percent of whom have left the country since 1990.

The objective of this project was to use the results of this study to minimize the negative aspects of brain drain and to maximize the positive ones. It is hoped that by increasing awareness amongst stakeholders of the various dimensions of the brain drain from Albania, and through dialogue and recommendations, we be able to change at least some of that brain drain into brain gain or brain circulation. The project particularly sought to influence the behaviour of universities and scientific institutions, to encourage different forms of cooperation between research institutions, universities, health centers, the public administration and the Albanian diaspora.

This objective is being met through workshops in all the main cities of Albania where universities and research centers are situated, the distribution of a package for the mass media with the main findings of the Migration DRC study, and through lectures with professors and students in the local universities. We are also trying to facilitate the creation of a network with civil society and other interested partners interested in highly skilled migration, and establishing contacts with the main scientific associations of the Albanian diaspora abroad.

Migrant Cities: Living Together

This project is funded by the British Council. It aims to promote intercultural understanding in (and within) South East Europe and the UK, by analyzing issues associated with migration and demographic change and its impact on society. The project will take place in eight cities in South East European countries and the UK. In Albania the project site is Tirana.

CESS will prepare the report for Albania. Primary and secondary data will be collected by: reviewing the existing research on migration and intercultural dialogue, interviewing returned migrants, families of absent migrants, immigrants as well as by consulting key local stakeholders. The findings will then be analyzed in a report where research questions will include:  the main migration patterns in Tirana; migrants’ expectations, experiences and life aspirations there; ways of migrants’ engagement in Tirana’s intercultural dialogue; examples of intercultural dialogue and how to promote it. The study’s findings will be disseminated to experts and policy-makers as well as to journalists and the general public.

CESS also pursues research on a variety of issues affecting Albanian society and has collaborated with our partners on projects seeking to promote understanding and engagement in problems faced in Albania by local, national and international actors. These issues include:  

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