Cultures, territories and migration journeys across the African continent.
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Leaving your country is never trivial. When forced, it becomes an ordeal that fractures a life in many ways. Some people migrate by choice; others have no option but to go. For the latter, every step into the unknown cuts deep. The pain is dull, sometimes invisible, but it lodges in the mind. To leave …
As migration increasingly shapes economic and social life in West Africa, a common language to understand it becomes essential. In Benin, the National Institute of Statistics and Demography (INStaD) sets the benchmarks. Through a series of precise definitions, the institute helps harmonise analysis, read the data better and inform public policy. Two ideas sit at …
Female migration often looks like a chance for economic empowerment, yet it remains a journey full of pitfalls. Gender-based violence (GBV) stands at the front of them, and it hits women on the move hardest. In Benin, the GBV that migrant women endure marks the social, legal and economic fractures running through migration. Awareness campaigns …
For four days, Burkinabè culture came to the heart of N’Djamena, Chad’s capital. Behind the flavours, the fabrics and the sounds, the ‘72 Hours of Burkina Faso in Chad’, held from 2 to 5 April 2026 under the theme ‘Burkina Faso at the heart of authenticity — my plate, my pride’, sketched a different reading …
‘Colibri littéraire’ is redrawing the horizon for African book professionals. Facing the mobility barriers that weigh on the sector, a Beninese initiative proposes to move works rather than authors. With the Colibri littéraire platform, the circulation of books becomes a concrete answer to the geographical, economic and structural barriers of the trade. In the popular …
At Gnassingbé Eyadéma International Airport, a symbolic new chapter is opening. Ten years after its new terminal came into service in 2016, Lomé’s airport is steadily emerging as a key hub in West Africa. Behind the traffic figures and the expansion plans, ever more significant migration dynamics are taking shape across the sub-region. Economic mobility, …
In an age of digital media and greater mobility, migration sits at the centre of public debate. It is also one of the fields most exposed to disinformation. Between rumour, exaggeration and political manipulation, ‘toxic imaginaries’ take shape that steer perceptions, feed fears and shape migration policy. Here is a closer look at a phenomenon …
For thousands of young Africans, getting a visa has become an obstacle course. Behind the figures, one reality stands out: a growing frustration, often silent, but deeply rooted. Between dreams of study, career opportunities and a simple wish to move, repeated refusals feed a sense of injustice and exclusion. Recent data from the Centre for …
Leaving home can be a choice or a necessity. Some departures, though, spring from misleading claims and false promises. These messages spread widely on social media, especially on WhatsApp, and they sell a Europe that is easy to reach, generous and prosperous. On WhatsApp and other networks, Europe often appears as a land of opportunity …
By 2026, migration had become a central issue in Africa and around the world. Its realities remain deeply worrying: deportations from Western countries, the outsourcing of migration controls, work restrictions in some African countries, displacement driven by insecurity and climate change, and trafficking, torture and shipwrecks. In response, experts and stakeholders are calling for a …
For decades, the migrants crossing the Sahara were assumed to be young men travelling alone. But the data from 2025 lays that myth to rest. The IOM has recorded a 32% rise in the number of women and children on these routes. The shift signals a change in how Sahelian households try to survive, but …
By 2025, Niger had become a barometer for the whole region’s tensions and hopes; it was no longer just a transit zone. The latest data compiled by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the alerts from Alarm Phone Sahara paint an ever-widening human landscape. With more than 4.3 million movements recorded over the year, …