Behind the research: Mariama Awumbila

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Mariama has worked with the programme as partner director for the Ghana team, since the inception phase in 2009, at the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. She has also conducted research on the migration industry, gender and generations, and research on migration into cities.

The biggest lesson I take from the programme is to work closely with varied stakeholders, not only from the usual academic community, but also with diverse stakeholders such as policymakers, the media and civil society. The research uptake component, which was a major focus was especially novel for me and I would recommend this approach to most academic research.

As founding Director of the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS), at the University of Ghana, the Migrating out of Poverty project was one of the first major research collaborations that CMS participated in after it was set up as a new Centre. The collaboration provided us with the opportunity, not only to work with a diverse range of leading migration scholars particularly in the global south, but to work on several research strands that highlighted the specificities of migration experiences in the African context, increasing the visibility of the Centre. 

I am proud to have worked with a great team of researchers and scholars across the partnership to provide insights into previously little studied areas such as the migration industry in Ghana, but especially proud of the opportunity it gave us to contribute to migration policymaking in Ghana and at the ECOWAS level. Through our work with the media, we have also helped to strengthen the capacity of media networks. 

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Mariama!