Demographic shifts and technological advances continue to fundamentally reshape international labour markets. While Germany and Europe face long-term challenges associated with shrinking working-age populations and growing demand for foreign labour, many countries across the African continent continue to experience sustained population growth and seek to create opportunities for their young and increasingly skilled populations.

Given these dynamics, labour mobility has emerged as an important component of economic and development cooperation between Germany and African partner countries. However, existing frameworks do not automatically translate into functioning pathways. While a series migration agreements, pilot programmes and initiatives have demonstrated the potential of mobility schemes, important structural challenges remain. Regulatory processes are often complex, recruitment and matching mechanisms can be costly and difficult to navigate, and coordination between public institutions, employers, recruiters and training providers remains fragmented. As a result, labour mobility from Africa to Germany remains limited compared to its potential.

The recent reform agenda of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), with its stronger emphasis on cooperation with the private sector, provides a timely occasion to revisit the relationship between development cooperation, labour mobility and economic opportunity. What lessons can be drawn from existing projects and initiatives? What is needed to translate promising pilot initiatives into scalable mobility pathways? And how can governments, businesses, development and training institutions, civil society actors and diaspora networks contribute to building effective mobility partnerships and ecosystems that create value for all stakeholders involved?

Hosted jointly by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Afrika-Verein der deutschen Wirtschaft e.V., this event seeks to bring together representatives from government, business, civil society, academia and the African diaspora to discuss these questions from different perspectives. Particular attention will be paid to practical experiences, existing cooperation models and perspectives from African partner countries. The event aims to identify practical pathways for strengthening skills mobility between Germany and African countries while fostering a more informed and forward-looking dialogue among stakeholders shaping this agenda. By connecting perspectives that are often discussed separately, it seeks to contribute to a more strategic and coordinated approach to labour mobility as part of broader Germany-Africa relations.

Please note that places are limited! We kindly ask you to register only if you are able to attend in person in Berlin. Thank you for your understanding!

Registrations is possible here: From Frameworks to Pathways – Strengthening Labour Mobility between Africa and Europe

Contact: Katarina Kunert | 0049 170 37 11 299 | kunert@afrikaverein.de