The Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty (Migration DRC) and the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS) at the University of Ghana co-hosted a workshop entitled Child and Youth Migration in West Africa: Research Progress and Implications for Policy at the Alisa Hotel in Accra on 9th-10th June, 2009. The workshop brought together Francophone and Anglophone researchers and child rights advocates from research institutes, international organisations and NGOs working across West Africa who are concerned with better understanding and hence supporting mobile young people, including children.  A first aim was to exchange information on what is known and what research is being planned and to map priorities for building evidence and knowledge.  A second aim was to identify the priority areas for policy intervention.

The conference’s eight sessions included a diverse range of panellists, discussants and participants, including migration researchers, child rights specialists, policymakers and NGO workers. It brought together the findings of the latest research on a number of key themes and included a series of discussions on the activities of a number of organisations in the field.