Books and Chapters

Chapter 4 of the Migration, Remittances and Sustainable Development in Africa (2020) focuses on internal migration dynamics in Kenya of the youth and their contribution to the development of sustainable counties drawing evidence from existing studies in youth migration in Kenya including a recent study by the African Migration and Development Policy Centre (AMADPOC) on Youth, Employment and Migration in Eastern and Southern Africa (YEMESA) outlining the importance of internal migration in national development planning to achieve some goals set in the Sustainable Development Goals Target 11 on inclusive cities

Chapter 13 in Migration, Remittances and Sustainable Development in Africa (2020) seeks to unpack the realities of mainstreaming the GCM framework into national policies and provides foresights on some of the implementation challenges that can emerge in countries that lack policies on migration in comparison to those that do have policies and practices in place. The chapter will also propose some solutions using evidence from existing studies on irregular migration that can be contextualized to suit some countries within Africa which align with SDG 10 on reducing inequalities within and among countries, with a specific focus on inequalities within countries.

Chapter 4 of the Migration, Free Movement and Regional Integration (2018) book examines the prospect of the free movement of particular persons (FMOPP) as opposed to the much-hyped all-inclusive protocol on free movement of persons (FMOP) which the East African Community (EAC), indeed all the RECs in sub-Saharan Africa, tend to favour. The focus on ‘particular persons’ is likely to be more appealing than free-for-all movement and may be more feasible. 

Chapter 3 of the Migrant Smuggling, Data and Research: A Global review of the emerging  evidence base book, edited by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) discusses Migrant smuggling in East Africa originating mainly from the Horn of Africa, inclusive of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. It  provides an analysis of the regional and national responses to migrant smuggling in the region including the protocols and treaties in place within the East Africa Community (EAC). The chapter maps out the migrant smuggling routes, cost of smuggling as well as challenges faced by countries that have become transit hub for irregular migration and smuggling networks from the Horn of Africa.

This book provides an analysis of out-migration from Western Kenya which since the colonial period, remains the most dependable reservoir of a gamut of labour force for the country's urban development as well as rural economic islands in Kenya. Western Kenya has such a weak foundation of development that it has depended on its out-migrants to both intra-regional and longer distance rural-urban migration to the country's larger cities in particular Nairobi. This book is based partly on the research project on Migrating Out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium where AMADPOC led research on rural out-migration to urban uncertainties. It is also partly based on analysis on secondary data from previous population censuses and other sources. 

In 2015, the IOM commissioned AMADPOC as an implementing partner to undertake the first migration Profile for Kenya. The report provided government officials with a snapshot on migration issues in Kenya from data,  impact to policy gaps. The report has guided the Government of Kenya and its stakeholders to address the gaps in migration including advocating the development of the National Coordination Mechanism for Migration as well as the need to develop a national policy on migration.  AMADPOC has continued to engage with the IOM and the Government of Kenya providing  technical and advisory support on migration related activities as a key member of the NCM. 

Edited by Rudolf Anich, Johanthan Crush, Susanne Melde and John Oyaro Oucho, this book provides innovative insights on South-south  human mobility and features a collection of papers that highlight often overlooked mobility  patterns among and within regions in the global South as well as address realities faced by South-South migrants. This publication thoroughly investigates key issues of the migration debate, spanning from the terminological and contextual meaning of migration and development. It also critically examines some of the key features that human mobility in the global South is characterized by, including the prevalence of intra-regional and labor mobility, the role of diasporas communities in developing countries, South-South remittances patterns, the influence of environmental factors on the decision to migrate and the rising number of child migrants.

The fifteen chapters edited by Prof John Oyaro Oucho is a compendium in honour of the Nigerian migration scholar Professor Aderanti Adepoju. Though the authors come from diverse disciplinary backgrounds: geography, demography, sociology and law they all work within the fields of internal and international migration in Africa. Chapters on Uganda, Kenya, Botswana, Nigeria and Mali are devoted to aspects of internal migration, while those on African emigration to Mexico and migration between Burkina Faso and CÙte díIvoire address various aspects of international migration. Migration issues in relation to women, students and climate change are also discussed.

Edited by Pieter Kok, Derik Gelderblom, John Oyaro Oucho and Johan van Zyl, this wide-ranging work, prominent migration scholars provide insight into the current dynamics and determinants of both immigration and migration in South and southern Africa and reflect on how the lifting of apartheid has affected migration in the region. The book covers three broad areas: macro-level migration trends in sub-Saharan Africa, micro-level factors in South African migration, and a synthesis of current migration theory. Population movement is a complicated issue that faces many governments, and this text explains and evaluates the causes and consequences of migration on an international and internal scale, shedding light on models of movement.

Prof. John Oyaro Oucho's chapter in Globalising Migratiom Regimes (2006) focuses on the relationship between Africa and the developed North which has consistently been an imbalanced African dependency on the North. The African continent continues to be exploited. It all started with the European and Arab exploits that ushered in the inhuman slave trade. More than 20 million Africans were trafficked to the New World and Europe as well as the Arab world. At the infamous Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, Africa was parcelled into power possessions which Great Britain, France, Belgium, Spain and Portugal ruled for several decades before the possessions became independent. Still, important links are being maintained with these powers.

Prof. John Oyaro Oucho's contributions to the proceedings of the African Migration Alliance Workshop in the book View on Migration in sub-Saharan Africa, sheds light on migration and refugees in GHA over 20 years in order to suggest the way forward for a region that is bound to become closer than ever before. It sets the tone by first examining the genesis, spread and consequences of refugee flows in both the Great Lakes Region and the HOA. The paper focuses primarily on the EAC migration as a classical case of the difficulties of institutionalising the free movement of persons. The chapter provides policy guidance calling for a systematic research on migration and refugees in the GHA so as to among other things, enable individual states, multi-state organisations and regional institutions to choose the best option for managing these movement.

Prof. John Oyaro Oucho's book analyses the ethnic conflict that engulfed Kenya’s Rift Valley Province at the turn of the nineties when multi-party democratic politics were being reintroduced in the country. Its central thesis is that ethnic conflict in the country then was a function of several issues, among them ethnocentrism, politics, the land question and criminal behaviour in certain circles. Both its determinants and consequences are demographic, economic, political and socio-cultural, implying the risks involved in oversimplifying issues.