Diaspora Skills Key to Turning Brain Drain into Brain Gain

The government has intensified efforts to harness skills from both within the country and the diaspora as part of a broader strategy to drive economic growth and industrialisation.

Speaking on the Diaspora Skills Platform, the Minister of Skills, Audit and Development, Jenfan Muswere, said the initiative focuses on “upskilling, skilling and reskilling” citizens to meet national development needs.

“But turning to the precise question in terms of the Diaspora Skills Platform, which is of great importance in terms of us as a nation to be able to turn brain drain into brain gain,” Minister Muswere said.

Muswere explained that government is conducting comprehensive skills audits locally, internationally, and among retired professionals to identify expertise that can support the economy.

“This is one of the objectives that we’ve committed to ensure that as we work on ensuring that we have a skills audit internally, a skills audit externally and also a skills audit in terms of retired experts both within and outside Zimbabwe in order to support macroeconomic growth,” he said.

He noted that the country has faced significant challenges due to the migration of skilled professionals, particularly in technical, health, and engineering sectors.

“But at the same time, to highlight that a number of technical, health, and engineering skills flights were some of the biggest challenges that we faced as a country for the past decades,” he said.

Muswere highlighted the importance of value addition, using lithium exports as an example of missed opportunities due to limited local processing capacity.

“If you are going to export raw lithium at some point at a price of less than $200 per tonne, but the rest of the value addition process is taking place externally to a value of around $20,000 per tonne, this clearly shows us the skills gap in terms of processing,” he said.

He stressed that building a strong skills base is key to reducing imports and boosting local production.

“So basically, what you import, when you import toothpicks, means you are failing to produce toothpicks. When you import cooking oil, it means you are failing to produce,” he added.

Muswere said the government is working closely with various ministries to align skills development with industry demands.

“As we collaborate and coordinate skills within provinces, this is also part of a whole-of-government approach,” he said.

He added that human capital remains central to achieving national development goals, including Vision 2030.

“For the most dynamic resource that we have in any nation is the human resource, which has always been a priority in terms of both NDS1 and NDS2,” he said.

Muswere also pointed to opportunities in the health sector, where diaspora expertise can be leveraged through modern technologies.

“But now within the context of the fourth industrial revolution, we can also utilise telemedicine using ICT, utilisation of artificial intelligence, for us to be able to come up with a number of solutions in terms of health service delivery,” he said.

He concluded that Zimbabwe must transition towards a demand-driven education system that responds to economic needs.

“As we continue to develop this, it becomes part of a national manpower plan… in order to ensure that we have a demand-driven education system, not a supply-driven education system,” he said.