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Internal Migration and Poverty Reduction: Rethinking the Debate on the North-South Movement in Ghana

Richard Serbeh1, Prince Osei-Wusu Adjei2 and Thomas Yeboah1
  • 1 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • 2 Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

Abstract

In the past few years the nexus that link internal migration and poverty reduction has been a subject of interest among researchers and policy makers. Internal movements constitute a major coping mechanism in poverty stricken areas although the evidence supporting this claim is equivocal. This paper critically examines the extent to which internal migration could acts as an important route out of poverty in areas where conventional poverty reduction policies have failed by drawing on empirical literature on the north-south movement in Ghana. We argue that internal migration may not be a silver bullet in the fight against poverty. This position is premised on two strands of thought. First, migrants may not always be able to improve upon their livelihood, earn income and leap-out of the malaise of poverty and the impact of remittances may not also be straightforward. Secondly, the very poor in the places where conventional development efforts have had limited success may not always have the wherewithal to move as migration is shaped inter alia by institutional, market and financial resources.

Journal of Social Sciences
Volume 12 No. 1, 2016, 42-54

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3844/jssp.2016.42.54

Submitted On: 28 April 2015 Published On: 16 November 2015

How to Cite: Serbeh, R., Adjei, P. O. & Yeboah, T. (2016). Internal Migration and Poverty Reduction: Rethinking the Debate on the North-South Movement in Ghana. Journal of Social Sciences, 12(1), 42-54. https://doi.org/10.3844/jssp.2016.42.54

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Keywords

  • Internal Migration
  • Ghana
  • North-South Movement
  • Poverty
  • Remittances