Dakar, Senegal — The 3rd IDEP's Monthly Development Seminar for 2013 held on 6th June at IDEP Headquarters focused on the sensitive issue of migration within West Africa and its impact on the region's development. It was addressed by Ndioro Ndiaye, former Deputy Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and former Minister for Women's, Children's and Family Affairs of the Republic of Senegal.

The main presentation stressed that migration is an opportunity to accelerate development, and that intra-African migration is more intense than migration from Africa to developing countries. As an example, it was indicated that about two thirds of the migrants remain in the West African subregion. The key issue is for the West African States to benefit from these changes.

In this regard, there is a need for accurate data on migration within the West African region and ECOWAS has partnered with IOM and European organizations to conduct surveys in this area with a focus on policies.

In addition to the issue of data availability and sharing, various other needs arose from the main presentation and from the discussants' contributions. They were related to capacity strengthening, institutional anchorage, political will, consistency in policies within the subregion, among others.

It was also noted that migration has a feminized component; West African women migrate for the same economic, financial and social reasons as West African men. Women presently make 51% of the migrant population of West Africa.

At the end of the seminar, a call was made to West African States inviting them to provide the appropriate answers that will make migration benefit their development process.