African Child Migration in Circumstances of Vulnerability

Salami, B., Ani-Amponsah, M., Kwankye, S., Richter, S., Okeke-Ihejirika, P., Vallianatos, H., Fouche, C., Mazzucato, V., Sibeko, L., Thompson, J., Fairbrother, H., Gommaa, H., Lavin, T., & Abimbola, S. (2019 to 2022). African child migration in circumstances of vulnerability: Developing a research partnership and network. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Partnership Development Grant. $200,000

Challenge: African immigrants are a growing population in Canada. They represent 13.4% of the 7.5 million foreign-born individuals in Canada, making Africa the second highest source region for immigrants. Our earlier ethnographic research shows that African immigrant children in Canada have diverse challenges that must be investigated within the context of migration. Poor social outcomes experienced by African children include relatively high rates of school dropout, gun violence, drug use and trafficking, and criminal and terrorist activities. Despite emerging international literature pointing to poor social outcomes for African immigrant children, international partnerships that investigate these experiences across transnational spaces are extremely rare. In particular, limited studies have collected data on African migrant children. This project builds on our previous work in Canada to look at the experiences of African migrant children in diverse countries. We have chosen to begin our partnership with case studies in Ghana as it is a major transit country for migrants and a major source country of migrants to Canada.

Goal and Objectives: Focusing on Ghana and Canada, this project will develop an international research partnership to examine the experiences of African migrant children. One objective is to examine the experiences of vulnerable African migrant children and how they navigate their everyday lives in Ghana and Canada. A second objective is to examine the potential for an international research partnership and network to contribute to improving the lives of African migrant children. Our study will include case studies on: (i) African migrant children in Canada (children with a single parent, a family member with a history of gun violence, and those who have been separated and reunited with their parents); and (ii) African children in Ghana (including children who migrate or are trafficked for labour in Africa, children who survive through begging and other hazardous street work, and children left behind by migrant parents). Our choice of these case studies is based on our review of literature, where we found limited studies focusing on these groups of migrants.

Breadth of Partnership: Our project will use a robust transnational and intersectional collaborative approach to mobilize the strengths of diverse partners. Network members from nine universities, spanning four continents, are collaborators on this project. The partnership will create a multidisciplinary network of research scholars who will focus on African migrant child well-being in the context of migration. We will engage partners during the project (and beyond) through: (1) regular in-person, web-based, and telephone meetings; and (2) jointly organized conferences and webinars. We will conduct: (1) a research team planning meeting in Canada; (2) multiple case studies with embedded units (i.e. sub-units) of analysis on African migrant children in Canada and Ghana; and (3) a conference and focus groups with diverse stakeholders in Ghana. A key partner is the University of Ghana, with which the University of Alberta has well-established partnership of more than twenty years. Our current planned project partnership is supported through the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), a leading global network for higher education and research. The WUN is made up of 23 universities, spanning 13 countries on 6 continents. Partners and collaborators will be involved in mentoring graduate students, attending Canadian research team meetings, presenting at Ghanaian conferences, contributing to knowledge mobilization, and setting future agendas for the project. Our project will inform national and international policies on African migrant children.