Background
Human capital flight from Zambia, or brain-drain from Zambia, as it is commonly
known, is as well-known a phenomenon as the principal faces that have left the country
for other regions or countries. The reasons for such departures are many and varied.
Despite a few scattered reports on the brain-drain experienced by such distinguished
institutions of higher learning in Zambia as UNZA, CBU and UTH, the full scale of this
phenomenon is not well documented. The book proposed herein is a modest attempt to
bring to the table critical and insightful perspectives on the issue of brain-drain facing
Zambia today. The book will highlight a collection of voices and experiences from both
within and outside Zambia, drawing on contributions of professionals, academics and
other knowledge workers that have either migrated to other countries or continents or are
still in Zambia.
The challenges and opportunities faced by Zambian professionals in the Diaspora are
little known, as are the very causes that uprooted them from Zambia. Similarly, the
expectation from some local institutions and people in Zambia, regarding how or what
contributions should be expected from Zambian professionals in the Diaspora, has not
benefited from much scholarship or policy articulation. A comparative narration of the
frustrations and thrills of working at home or in a foreign country is therefore unveiled in
this work.
Despite a handful of Government incentives at home to lure emigrants willing to return,
the extent of such backflows, and the shocks faced by returnees, have not been well
captured and communicated. It is also important to understand the hopes that underpin
the willingness of many to return to Zambia, or the fears and anxieties that make these
emigrants to stay put with the status quo.
Contributors to this book are encouraged to tell their stories from a scholarly point of
view, highlighting, inter alia, their: educational backgrounds and experience;
professional lives and environments in Zambia as well as in the Diaspora; benefits,
challenges, opportunities, threats, risks, shocks, and adaptations to various institutions
and countries they have worked or lived in; and how they would like to see the
professional work environment in present-day Zambia change.
Contributors will be expected to take a reflective approach while advancing arguments
about brain-drain facing Zambia today. For example, critical issues such as the following
could be touched on: is brain-drain beneficial to Zambia? If yes, in what sense? What
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about remittances being sent from those in the Diaspora to Zambia? How do such efforts
mitigate the effects of poverty? Is the cost of adapting to life in the Diaspora worth the
cost of xenophobia and homesickness that some emigrants experience in these foreign
countries? What are the daily pressures of working in the Diaspora e.g. in Europe, the
Americas, Asia, Australia or elsewhere in Africa? What are the gains of emigration at
personal or family level? How has your worldview changed?
The book also wishes to capture the comparative analyses of pertinent frustrations,
anxieties and hopes of old and young emigrants that left at different time-periods during
the reigns of former Presidents Kaunda, Chiluba, and Mwanawasa. Are there second or
third generation children of emigrants? What are their hopes and fears about Zambia? Do
they feel a part of Zambia, or are they more comfortable as citizens of the virtual
continent – the African Diaspora? What about the increasing migration of some
academics into politics of opportunity in Zambia? Does that serve as a better or worse off
option than maintaining one’s professional career-path although migrating to a foreign
country?
Contributions are invited from all disciplines and professional backgrounds e.g. banking,
law, medicine, engineering, education, accounting, business studies, architecture,
university lecturers and professors, economists, agriculturalists, natural scientist, social
scientist, etc.
Tentative themes could include the following:
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Dynamics and issues underlying brain-drain from UNZA and CBU
Dynamics and issues underlying brain-drain from the health sector of Zambia
Dynamics and threats of undermining the quality of higher education in Zambia
with the sudden and increasing proliferation of sub-standard private universities
Enduring the shocks: experiences of various Zambians working in different
countries
The prodigal son: experiences of Zambians that have returned home
Self-imposed exile: experiences of Zambians unwilling to return home
Can Zambia devise a legal framework to curb the brain-drain?
From brain-drain to brain-circulation: changing perceptions of Zambia’s emigrant
workers in a new world without borders
Tracking brain-drain: towards an information management system to trace
emigrant knowledge workers from Zambia
Networking among Zambians in the Diaspora in the new Information Age
Home away from home: Role of Zambian diplomatic missions in harnessing and
serving Zambians in the Diaspora
Paying the price: social and psychological costs of working in the Diaspora
A comparative analysis of the economic benefits and losses from brain-drain
Challenges and opportunities for Zambians in the Diaspora willing to invest in
Zambia
From brain-drain to economic diplomacy: can Zambians in the Diaspora help
market and attract foreign investors to Zambia?
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From scarcity to plenty: towards a better work environment in the Diaspora
Giving back to Zambia: challenges and opportunities facing Zambians willing to
return home to volunteer their skills
Towards political rights of Zambians in the Diaspora (a look at issues of voting
rights, constitution-making process, political party membership, discourse, dual
nationality etc)
Format of the chapters:
– Chapter contributions should range between 5,000 words and 12,000 words
– Please note that all chapter contributions should be prepared using the APA referencing
style whose description is easily available via an internet search.
The deadline for submitting draft chapters is September 1, 2009.
Please send your chapter contributions electronically via email to:
Prof. Kenneth K. Mwenda (email: [email protected]) and Kazhila Chinsembu
(email: [email protected])
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