The security-migration-development nexus revised: a perspective from the Sahel

The project aimed to reconceptualise the existing links between migration, development and security in the Sahel, a region where this nexus is particularly pronounced. The research also sought to recast EU and US policies in these domains and analyse the opportunities and challenges facing the transatlantic partners in the region.

Coordinated by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the project included joint-research activities with African experts and research centres. In this context, the project was structured in two main parts. In the first instance, four international experts were called upon to analyse and identify best practices relating to the Sahel’s security-migration-development nexus and their governance, giving particular relevance to factors affecting each component of this nexus and through a series of case studies. A second part developed the research agenda, through an analysis of the strategic roles played by the EU and the US in the Sahel region. This focused on the EU’s recent strategic elaboration on the internal and external dimension of migration, and the US’s security and development engagements in the region.

The project included a number of activities among which the publication of a volume, and the organisation of a series of outreach and dissemination activities. An international conference (Addis Ababa, 11 December 2017) developed policy recommendations addressed to both international actors. This conference was followed by a seminar (Rome, 20 February 2018) for the dissemination of policy recommendations.

Funding: FEPS, NDI, Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), Compagnia di San Paolo.