Transition into adulthood: experiences of return independent child migrants in northern Ghana

Stephen O. Kwankye, University of Ghana

North-south independent child migration has become an important feature of migration flows in Ghana. Moving as children, they grow into adulthood and may eventually return home. This paper examines the extent to which return north-south child migrants realise their main aim of migrating out of poverty, having transited from childhood into adulthood. It answers the key question of how beneficial migration has been to the independent child migrants who eventually return home. Among other things, the paper notes that return migrants who purposely made savings in order to return were more likely to re-migrate compared to their counterparts who did not, suggesting that migrating as a child does not always guarantee the migrant an escape from poverty as they transit from childhood into adulthood.