Migration and Public Service Delivery: The Status Quo and Policy Responses in Sending and Receiving Countries

Abstract

Migration has significant effects on public service delivery both in sending countries and in receiving countries. This contribution explores the effect of migration on public service delivery from both ends of the spectrum. It explores specific challenges in the public service sector of both sending and receiving countries. The discussion also focuses on the need to better manage the interface between migration and public service delivery through, amongst other things, better policy responses and further research. This chapter also shows that both emigration and immigration have a great impact on service delivery in the region and beyond. Whilst national level policies were expected to be effective in reducing the rate of emigration from sub-Saharan Africa, domestic conditions were not adequately matched along global trends. The implication of this is that domestic conditions have to be approached from the global perspectives on migration. Whilst the consortium for refugees and migrants in South Africa advocates for a paradigm shift in the policy framework—from controlling to managing, this chapter embraces a trade-off between domestic policy frameworks on migration and attitudes to migrants as a necessary step to correcting some of the existing challenges in both sending and receiving countries.