The aim of Europe to tackle migratory movements already within the African continent thus minimizing African emigration towards Europe has been a prominent political debate in recent years. The migration-development-nexus is a very important factor to consider, when debating forms of development. De Sousa Santos shows that the critical term, he coins as the “Epistemologies of the South” is that “all of our theoretical thinking in the global North has been based on the idea of the abyssal line” referring to a space in which Northern knowledge constitutes valid knowledge and Non-Western knowledge is less valid and questionable. A causal chain that clearly stems from colonial times. This research deals with the EU-African Rabat Process as a case study by analysing how the notion of development is framed in the official communication of the 4th and 5th Rabat Process Ministerial Conferences in connection to curbing African emigration towards Europe and furthermore, during the migratory crisis by analysing the Valletta Summit 2015. The applied mixed method discourse analysis, a Concurrent Triangulation Strategy, is based on a quantitative word frequency method that is complemented by a qualitative Foucauldian discourse analysis informed by De Sousa Santos’ notion of the “Epistemologies of the South”. Analysis shows that due to diverging interests and the fathoming for cooperation options, the framing of development is based on discrepancies and strong European interests of managed migration and return policies; however, still more comprehensive than mere economic development especially after the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.

An increased global attention has been placed on the effects of migration on development, particularly in Africa, due to the increase in remittances to the continent. The African Union (AU) has negotiated multiple migration frameworks and conventions to promote development in this arena. The increased attention has also made researchers within the Migration-Development Nexus (MDN) question the uncritical use of the concept development. This study aims to answer the question of: “How does the AU’s representation of development affect its migration policy?”. The “What's the Problem Represented to be?” model was used to analyse the colonial discourse in the representation of development in the Migration Policy Framework for Africa 2018-2030. The results showed that development is discursively represented as economic growth, migrants are seen as agents of development and North-South hierarchies are evident in the representation of developed/underdeveloped. It was concluded that focus should lie on state-by-state definitions of what development is and is not

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / In recent times, debates on the connection between migration and development surfaced as essential discourses in contemporary development issues. Consequently, this led to the birth of what is currently popularly acknowledged or coined as the migration-development nexus. In addition, there has been an evolution of the food security topic in various developmental discussions. Nevertheless, little attention has been given to the relationship between international migration and food security in the context of development. Moreover, missing in the literature is the conversation on migration and food security with particular attention to youths who constitute a vulnerable yet economically active group. Furthermore, there has been an ongoing engaging debate on the impact of remittances, on one side macro-economists argue that remittances are important for the economies of migrant sending and receiving countries and view the use of remittances at the household level as destruction to growth and development. On the other, microeconomists are skeptical about the naïve view of the macroeconomists; on the contrary, they argue that the use of remittances at the household level is very vital for the livelihood of the poor and vulnerable societies. This thesis empirically investigated the link between youth migration and food security in the setting of Zimbabwean youths in Cape Town, South Africa, in the perspective of south-south migration, the New Economics of Labour Migration and Livelihood Approaches, consequently introducing what the researcher identifies as the youth migration-food security nexus. The thesis focused on three key themes: 1) reasons for youth migration in connection to food security 2) the importance of remittances on food security in the place of origin 3) levels of food insecurity of Zimbabwean youths in Cape Town. A combination of quantitative and qualitative research approach was applied in this study, where STATA version 12 statistical software was used for quantitative data analysis. The findings of this thesis reveal that there is an assenting link between youth migration and food security. Firstly, results point out that food insecurity or food shortage is one of the main causes of youth migration. Secondly, migration decision making is a collective and cooperative livelihood strategy used by many households or families. Thirdly, remittances from youths are vital for the livelihood of the people left in the place of origin and are primarily sent and used for food consumption. Lastly, although food security levels were still low there was an improvement of food security for youth migrants in Cape Town. Moreover, this research recognized a number of challenges that face migrant youths in their need for food security, which include (a) lack of reliable income to buy food, (b) poor utilization of food or consumption of unbalanced diet, and (c) limited research on migration and food security issues. In contextualizing these challenges, the study concludes with remarks and recommendations for policy makers, governments and nongovernmental establishments among other organizations.