Le projet de recherche MAFE est une initiative de grande ampleur dont l'objectif est d'étudier les migrations entre l'Afrique subsaharienne et l'Europe. - Attention, la documentation des enquêtes MAFE est en langue anglaise. - ____ The MAFE project is a major research initiative focused on migration between Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. It brings together ten European and African research centres working on international migration. In the early XXIth Century, international migration from Sub-Saharan Africa to Europe has generated increasing public and policy attention. The flotilla of boats bringing would-be migrants to the Canary Islands, and attempts to reach Spanish territory in Ceuta and Mellila have drawn a rapid response from Europe in the form of new policy measures. Yet the scope, nature and likely development of Sub-Saharan African migration to Europe remained poorly understood, and, as a result, European polices may be ineffective. A major cause of this lack of understanding was the absence of comprehensive data on the causes of migration and circulation between Africa and Europe. The MAFE project aimed at overcoming this lack of understanding by collecting unique data on the characteristics and behavior of migrants from Sub-Saharan countries to Europe. The key notion underpinning the project was that migration must not only be seen as a one-way flow from Africa to Europe. The argument was that return migration, circulation and transnational practices are significant and must be understood in order to design better migration policy. The MAFE project focused on migration flows between Europe (Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK) and Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ghana, which together accounted for over a quarter of all African migration to the EU at the time of the survey. In each of these "migration systems", the survey was designed to document four key areas: - Patterns of migration : the socio-demographic characteristics of migrants, the routes of migration from Africa to Europe, and *the patterns of return migration and circulation. - Determinants of migration: looking at departure, but also return and circulation and taking into account the whole set of possible destinations. - Migration and Development: MAFE documents some of the socio-economic changes driven by international migration, looking as often as possible at both ends of the Afro-European migration system, at the individual level. - Migrations and Families: the data collected by the MAFE project can be used to study all sorts of interactions between family formation and international migration. Although the survey was primarily designed to study international migration, it can also be used to study other phenomena, especially in Africa: domestic mobility, labor market participation, family formation, etc. Comparable data was collected in both 3 sending and 6 destination countries, i.e. in sub-Saharan Africa and in Europe. The data are longitudinal - including retrospective migration, education, work and family histories for individuals - and multi-level - (with data collected at the individual and household levels, in addition of macro-contextual data). Please consult the official MAFE website for further details : https://mafeproject.site.ined.fr/en/
Probability: Stratified GHANA A three-stage stratified random sample was used. At the first stage, primary sampling units (census district) were selected randomly with varying probabilities. At the second stage, households were selected randomly in each of the selected primary sampling units (PSUs). At the third stage, individuals were selected within the households. a) Selection of primary sampling units (first stage) For Ghana, the target areas were the cities of Accra and Kumasi. In each of the cities, a sampling frame of primary sampling units was prepared. In Senegal and Ghana, recent censuses were available and served as sampling frames at the first stage. At the first stage, census enumeration areas were randomly selected. In Ghana, 80 enumeration areas were selected with a probability proportional to size. As no information was available for stratifying, the sample was not stratified in the first stage in Ghana. b) Selection of households (second stage) A listing operation was carried out in each of the selected survey sites to prepare the sampling frame of households. The listing consisted in enumerating all the households in the selected sites, and in identifying whether these households included migrants of not. In DR Congo and Ghana, three categories of households were distinguished (households with return migrants, with migrants abroad, and without migrants). 8 households were selected in each of the 3 strata (if less than 8 households were available in one or several strata, the remaining households were selected in the other stratum). The sampling rate was higher in strata of households with migrants, in order to get a sufficient sample of such households. c) Selection of individuals (third stage) In each of the selected households, one or several respondents were selected among the eligible people (people aged between 25 and 75, and born in the origin country). In DR Congo and Ghana, all the return migrants and partners of migrants currently abroad were selected. In addition, one other eligible member was randomly selected. A special tool had been designed so that the interviewers could randomly select the people during the fieldwork. Two types of questionnaires were used in the departure countries: the household questionnaire and the individual life history questionnaire. - The first questionnaire was used among a representative sample of households in the target region. - The second questionnaire was used among a sample of individuals in the selected households, targeting both return migrants and non-migrants. The household questionnaire was thus used as the sampling frame for the selection of individual respondents. EUROPE The objective of the survey was to obtain a sample 'as representative as possible' of the African populations (Congolese, Ghanaian, Senegalese) in the destination countries (150 individuals per origin and destination country). The way the sample was constituted may vary across countries, but some common principles were respected: - The composition of the sample should be as close as possible to the population of (Congolese, Ghanaian, Senegalese) migrants in the country in terms of gender, geographic distribution, age, socio-economic category or occupation. - One exception: the sample should be gender balanced. Males and females should be equally represented in order to allow gender analyses. - Samples in origin and destination may be linked, but migrants with weak or no relationships at origin should not be excluded from the sample. - Both documented and undocumented migrants should be represented in the sample. As no suitable frame was available to select randomly individual respondents in five of the six European countries (Spain being the exception), it was decided to use quota sampling. In all the countries, the quotas were set by age and gender at least. In the UK, the place of residence was also used in the quotas. In the Netherlands, sub-regions concentrating the majority of migrants were selected. In the United Kingdom, the surveys were concentrated in the London area and in the places where Ghanaian migrants were living. Randomness was also included in the samples in different ways. For instance, in Belgium, a random sample of places was selected according to the number of people of Congolese origin living in these places. Respondents were selected in these places. The combination of different recruitment methods also ensured that different types of persons had a non zero probability of being included in the sample. For instance, some respondents were recruited in public spaces (street, metro station, hairdresser...), others were randomly selected from list of volunteers identified in churches... The Netherlands - Target areas: 3 cities (in 3 different provinces): Amsterdam, The Hague and Almere - Sample size: 272 - Quotas: By age, gender - Recruitment methods: Public spaces, churches, snowballing, interviewers' contacts United Kingdom - Target areas: Whole country - Sample size: 149 - Quotas: By age, gender and place of residence - Recruitment methods: Public spaces, churches, snowballing, interviewers' contactsProbability.Stratified
Face-to-face interview: Paper-and-pencil (PAPI) The general strategy was the following one: 1. A household survey was conducted among a sample of households in the capital cities in Africa (household questionnaire in origin countries); 2. A life history survey among a sample of individual respondents was conducted in the departure countries (non migrants, return migrants and spouses of migrants). The individual respondents were selected from the households in the origin countries (individual questionnaire in origin countries); 3. A life history survey was carried out among migrants in destination countries (individual questionnaire in destination countries). All the surveys were done using paper questionnaires through face-to-face interviews. GHANA In Ghana, both household and individual surveys were carried out at the same time. It necessitated drawing individuals within the households through the Kish selection method. The average duration of interviews for the household questionnaire was about 45 minutes-1 hour in Senegal, and a little shorter in DR Congo and Ghana. The average duration of the biographic questionnaire was also around 45 minutes, but it varied greatly depending on the age and migration status of the respondents. EUROPE In Europe, the moment for data collection depended on the selection method. In MAFE Senegal, the fieldwork could start only after completion of the household survey. As a consequence, the fieldwork for the biographic questionnaires was done almost at the same time in all countries. The work of the interviewers included three stages: o The interviewers first had to set up an appointment with respondents by using the phone contacts or another source of recruitment (except in cases persons were directly available). Interviewers needed to confirm the appointment. The choice of the place and time of the interview were left to the respondents. o The interview was then done. The average duration of interviews was between 1 and 1.5 hours. In most cases, interviews were carried out at the house of the respondents, but it also took places in various places (pubs, street, office…). The interviews were done during weekdays or week-ends, at various times. o Finally interviewers were asked to read quickly the completed questionnaire as soon as possible after the interview, in order to detect any missing parts or inconsistencies, and correct them on the spot. Approximately one additional hour was necessary for this. In Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK, interviewers also had to transcribe the information from the ageven grid to the questionnaire directly after the interview (this was done by the editors in the other countries). In all the countries, the respondents were offered a small gift at the end of the interview. In most countries, this was a calling card. In the UK, money was given to the respondents and in Belgium, respondents were given the choice between a calling card and a voucher in a supermarket. The value of the gift varied between 5 € (Italy) and £15 (UK). In all the countries, the gift was very much appreciated. Although the gift was offered after the interview, some participants knew in advance they would receive it. For instance, a few surveys were conducted in a center for asylum seekers in Belgium, and the information about the gift quickly spread among the Congolese migrants. Recruitment by snowballing also meant that respondents were sometimes aware they would receive a gift. Although this may have facilitated the recruitments of some persons, it may have affected negatively the composition of the sample.Interview.FaceToFace.PAPI
