Guyana has one of the highest rates of skilled migration in the world as a percentage of its population. The country has also one of the highest net out-migration flows of the entire Latin America and Caribbean region. For this reason, Guyana is the largest recipient of remittances in the region (relative to GDP), and has the largest percentage of households who receive remittances. When oil starts flowing these remittances may no longer be needed, but the skills and expertise of these Guyanese will be desperately in demand.
The World Bank estimates that Guyana has approximately 500,000 citizens living abroad. This amounts to between 35 and 55 percent of Guyana’s nationals living in another country. Worse still is the fact that between 80 and 90 percent of Guyanese with a tertiary education (World Bank, 2007) reside outside the country. Since the early 1960’s most Guyanese have migrated after matriculating from the University of Guyana or after secondary school. The majority to the US, but many to Canada and the United Kingdom. The feeling in the past that there is not much in Guyana to develop your potential, and little work to indulge your skills, has led to the current status quo. So, like many former colonial countries, personal development stops after high school.
Guyanese work in virtually all professional fields throughout the industrialized world. This includes science and engineering, scientific research, computer programming, logistics, planning and strategy, law, finance, quantitative analytics, business, accounting, administration, auditing, medicine, economics, public relations, political science, language, sports, and the arts. There is an abundance of examples of Guyanese who have distinguished themselves in these fields. A good example is the current President of the American Heart Association, Dr. Ivor Benjamin. Recently, Guyanese economist Erwin Charles became Dean of Yale Business School at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Guyanese are in every segment of the many industries that make up the industrial world.
Guyana’s Oil & Gas heritage is at stake. In the United States, Canada, the UK, and elsewhere in the developed world, members of the Guyanese diaspora are celebrated for their skills, expertise, and accomplishments as business people, entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists, and academics; and others for their inventiveness, creativity, and contributions to society and business outcomes. Therefore, it is somewhat a mystery that members of the Guyanese diaspora have not been called upon or consulted on the current oil and Gas discussions now taking place in Guyana. At this juncture in Guyana’s oil and gas industry development, the stakes could not be higher. The country’s oil & gas patrimony is at risk. World history provides many examples of countries that came into tremendous hydrocarbon wealth, and 30- to 40- years on, the general population is worse off economically than before discovery of oil & gas resources.
There are many creditable, experienced Guyanese diaspora professionals in the oil and gas, and energy industry. Guyanese are participating in the upstream-, midstream-, and downstream- oil and gas industry sectors as engineers, geologists, quantitative analysts, oil & gas attorneys, project developers, project managers, strategic planners, environmentalists, health and safety specialists, commodity risk managers, operations managers, and company executives. To have a fair chance of optimizing Guyana’s oil and gas opportunity for sustainable economic development of the country, Guyana must bring these resources home. There should be a Government Ministry dedicated to diaspora resource engagement, utilization, and repatriation.
Guyana’s 21st Century Challenges. In building a sustainable twenty-first century economy, Guyana faces many challenges. Utilization of the Guyanese diaspora will be essential to overcoming these challenges and moving Guyana successfully forward.
Foremost is managing sea level rise due to climate change and the resulting changes to rainfall patterns throughout the region. Building sustainable housing is another important challenge, as well as improving infrastructure to promote growth and private sector development.
To ensure the requisite skills for Guyana’s new economy come from the Guyanese population, improving the quality and tenor of education at primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions is critical. In this regard, Guyana must quickly make significant progress towards access to education, and boosting primary school enrollment.
Improving the quality of health services will require many doctors and other healthcare professionals returning to home. Guyana is doing better in certain areas of health such as childhood immunizations, but worse in others such as child and maternal mortality. These numbers must be reversed. It will require recruiting members of the diaspora, and other means such as continued partnership with Cuba which has built a world class healthcare system.
Guyana’s major challenge of retaining its skilled population need not continue in the future. The country must establish outreach programs to seriously engage and recruit members of the diaspora. This can be effectively and efficiently done through a new Government Ministry dedicated to diaspora resource engagement, utilization, and repatriation. Because of the small size of our population, Guyana will quickly become a net importer of skilled professional labor, since the country is expected to reach full employment in a very short period of time. The Government should consider an immigrant visa program to handle skilled and unskilled immigrants … priority to CARICOM nationals. The country can no longer tolerate one of the highest net emigration flows of the region, estimated at an annual emigration rate of 2 percent points a year (World Bank, 2007). Therefore, a carefully considered strategy that links the diaspora to their home country is essential for effectively developing our country with those that truly have the interest and patriotism at heart.
In conclusion, to optimize the opportunity of Guyana’s oil and gas resources for the sustainable economic development of the country, Guyana must purposely engage, utilize, and bring home members of the Guyanese diaspora who are skilled professionals in the oil & gas, and energy industry. Moreover, to effectively meet and overcome the challenges Guyana will encounter in building a modern economy, Guyana must engage and utilize the broader Guyanese diaspora. The Guyanese diaspora is not a threat to local Guyanese. Instead, we bring skills and resources not present in the local population, have the best interests of Guyana and Guyanese at heart, and want to see the country progress in an economically sustainable manner that benefits the entire Guyanese population. Without utilization of the Guyanese diaspora, expatriate skills will flow into the country to fill the skills and expertise gap created by the emerging oil & gas industry development. We have all seen that movie before … the end is as predictable as it is unpalatable and undesirable. Guyana must establish outreach programs to seriously engage and recruit members of the diaspora. This can be effectively and efficiently done through a new Government Ministry dedicated to diaspora resource engagement, utilization, and repatriation.