Over the last two decades a consensus has been reached that there are forces which lead to the inception of migration and to the perpetuation of movement. Taken together, these can be understood as the ‘drivers’ of migration. ‘Drivers’ are then the factors which get migration going and keep it going once begun. This paper attempts to identify key drivers of migration and explores different ways in which they may be configured.
The challenge is to establish whether and in what circumstances some drivers are more important than others, and which combinations of drivers are more potent than others. This will lay the groundwork for exploration of the possibility that some drivers are amenable to policy interventions. Proximate and mediating drivers rather than the structural and precipitating spheres appear to have greater potential for policy intervention to reduce poverty and optimise development.
Download the paper from the Migrating out of Poverty website