Mr Hugo Tavares Augusto, Project Officer of the International Centre for Migration and Policy Development (ICMPD)’s Demand Driven Facility (DDF) said to be able to develop policy and operational responses to the challenges and positive aspects of migration, it was important for countries to know the phenomenon.

Mr Augusto, who was speaking at the opening of the second capacity-building Session for labour market and migration statistics in Accra, said knowledge of the causes, consequences and effects, both quantitatively and qualitatively of migration was a prerequisite.

“Improving the knowledge on migration, on its stocks, and flows and on the trends and dynamics at the national, regional and international level is a sine qua non condition for better shaping the responses, and fully seizing the development potential of migration and of migrants and their families,” he said.

Mr Augusto noted that, the training session, under the European Union and ECOWAS funded project; “Support to Free Movement of Persons and Migration in West Africa (FMM West Africa), was being spearheaded by the ECOWAS Commission to develop a regional statistical reporting system capable of portraying the realities of migration flows at large and labour mobility flows and also feed the policy dialogue with well-informed facts and quantitative data.

Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, who chaired the opening session, bemoaned the lack of accurate and organised data on the labour market, saying, it made it difficult to have a clear picture of the labour market in Ghana.

He explained that data on the labour market was fragmented due to the multiplicity of institutions generating such data as well as the lack of a functional Labour Market Information System (LMIS) to harmonise and synchronise such data. He said although the Ministry had begun work on the Ghana Labour Market Information System some years ago, it was still not functional and pledged commitment to ensuring its full implementation.

He commended ECOWAS for taking the lead towards developing a regional LMIS, which will ultimately produce an annual labour market report based on data collected from member states.

He said if successful, a regional LMIS will allow labour to move where it is needed in the region, and was timely considering the number of young African migrants transiting through North African countries in search opportunities they had no information about.

Mr Diop Guite, Programme Officer Labour Migration and Social Affairs at the ECOWAS Commission, said the training was key to the process of setting up the Regional Labour Market and Migration Information System (LMMIS) requested by the ECOWAS Commission to the DDF.

He said pilot Action is being implemented in six ECOWAS countries: Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Niger, Nigeria and Mauritania. He noted that the ECOWAS protocols on the free movements of persons, the Right of Residence and Establishment provided a legal framework for the mobility of workers by allowing citizens of the community to enter, reside and establish themselves in economic activities on the territory of other member states.

He reiterated ECOWAS’ commitment to the harmonisation of labour legislations, recognition and equivalence of degrees, diplomas, certificates and other qualifications in member states.  Also, the guarantee of the portability of migrant workers’ through the implementation of the General Convention on Social Security of ECOWAS among other strategic priorities, provided a foundation for building a regional migration policy and a regional programme to promote decent work and employment.

“It is clear that partnership, collaboration and coordination between ECOWAS and Member states are essential for the effective governance labour migration, for regional development and integration,” he added.