The Past, Present and Future of Migration Management Aid

The Center for Migration and Refugee Studies CMRS at The American University in Cairo invites you to an engaging lecture on The Past, Present and Future of Migration Management Aid.

This presentation analyzes migration management aid, which is defined as funding from an international donor that is used to influence or control the movement of people. This funding has been on the rise. Estimates show that migration management aid amounted to between $73 billion and $179 billion from 2002 to 2022, and it increased more than 1,000 percent over the last two decades. Yet this type of foreign assistance is poorly understood. What does migration management aid fund, and what is its broader impact for recipient countries, as well as migrants, would-be migrants and refugees? Drawing on new research for a forthcoming coauthored book, this talk presents migration management aid as a concept and traces its allotment over the last two decades. It also focuses specifically on the implications of the European Union Trust Fund for Africa, a clear-cut example of migration management aid that allocated approximately €5 billion to address the root causes of migration from Africa to Europe. Finally, the talk sheds light on the future of migration management in the context of massive cuts to global aid since 2025.

About the Speaker

Professor Kelsey Norman is a fellow for the Middle East and director of the Women’s Rights, Human Rights, and Refugees program at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. She also teaches courses in the Department of Political Science and the Master of Global Affairs program at Rice University. Her research has been published in numerous academic journals as well as policy-oriented outlets including in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy and The Conversation. In recognition of her research, she was awarded the 2025 Emerging Scholar award by the Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration section of the International Studies Association, as well as an Honorable Mention for the 2025 Emerging Scholar award by the Migration and Citizenship section of the American Political Science Association. Her first book, Reluctant Reception: Refugees, Migration, and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2021.
 

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For questions or more information, contact the center at cmrs@aucegypt.edu.