In: Psychology
Acknowledgement of Brain Drain is the remedy for issues faced within the Caribbean society today. Discuss
Brain drain can be officially termed as physical movement of highly skilled and educated people, human capital, from one country to another in search of better opportunities, principally in the area of employment, with the consequent loss to their country in respect of knowledge, intellectual richness and diverse innovative skills required for that country’s economic development. Brain drain has been debated for decades and is a worldwide phenomenon. It particularly gives adverse consequences on overall development and economic growth of developing countries. There has been a lot of debate among academicians, teachers, economists, industrialists and politicians on the subject of brain drain - its causes, consequences & remedial steps to combat this issue. The key segments of the definition give an indication of the impact of the problem on a developing country that needs all the components necessary for development, especially human capital-the most important weath of a country needs to be addressed. Earlier, the brain drain issue was not given much consideration, but now it is on political agendas of many countries similarly affected. The implication is that the flow of economic benefits from human capital is heavily biased in one direction leaving the developing country at a greater disadvantage and the developed country is benefiting. To carry out development work capacity building is a very important part. Capacity building involves building quality human capital stocks, skills transfer, training and human resource management to implement sustainable development strategies.Research now shows that indicators of low levels of capacity building in Africa are linked to Africa’s underdevelopment. Researches reveal that through the process of capacity building, individuals and organizations strengthen their abilities to mobilize the resources necessary to develop new policies and reform institutions to overcome the nation's economic and social problems. In recognition of the importance of capacity building to development, the UN set up the United Nations University Comparative Regional Integration Studies; to sponsor & promote various developmental activities which build capacities for human resources enhancement and management through skills transfer and training for the benefit of developing countries. It is important to build human capacity by having qualified and adequate human capital stocks to serve in national or international technical assistance programs & also to train policy makers and practitioners to implement sustainable development strategies. The brain drain phenomenon in developing countries can best be explained using factors like the globalization of the economy, lack of economic development, political instability and the need for labor in developing countries. Unemployment and under employment, play a greater part as people move to seek a livelihood. Economists advocate that factors including; price inequality, demand supply imbalance in manpower and unequal development patterns causes brain drain in developing countries. The remedial action that should be taken to address Brain drain problem should be on retaining the professionals and experts who are still in the developing countries by providing an environment favourable for conducting research and growth so that they do not get lured by better environments, and conditions in other countries. The challenge would be to come up with a methodology for understanding the overall net impact of the loss of human capital on capacity building and any development prospects and how to mitigate such a loss. Systematic and comprehensive data needs to be kept to evaluate the current position of the country. The exact impact and implications of the brain drain on the different sectors would have to be assessed to come up with the remedial measures. Professionals could be encouraged to stay in the country if the government provided a more politically, economically and socially attractive environment. Clear development policies have to be designed to improve standards of living and encourage maximum participation in the development process.