The socio-economic impacts of skilled people Out-migration in Pemba: a case of Wete District

The main objective of this study was to investigate the Socio-Economic Impacts of Out- Migration of Skilled People in Pemba: A Case of Wete District. The study examined the root courses of the skilled people out-migration, socio-economic impacts and the intervening measures to solve the problem. The Island has for a long time experienced large number of skilled people leaving into other areas, particularly Zanzibar town and Tanzania Mainland. Most of them have permanently remained at the destinations. The sample was selected by using systematic random sampling to represent the entire population. About 250 respondents from four shehias Kipangani 55, Utaani 80, Ole 65 and Piki 50 were sampled. Also 35 respondents were randomly selected from Chake- Chake town which form the number of all respondents at the place of origin to be 285 including 164 males and 121 females. The study involved respondents from two areas of destination, Zanzibar town and Dar-es-Salaam city. About 80 respondents were involved- 50 respondents from Zanzibar town and 30 respondents from Dar es Salaam city. In the destination areas 56 male and 24 female respondents were involved. The main instruments used in data collection were closed ended questionnaires for households, while Focus Group Discussion/Interview were used to collect data from Shehas, Officers such as OCGS and most of residents at the area of destination were sampled using snow balling technique. Also, Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16.0 was used to make simple descriptive analysis for interpretation. The out-migration of skilled people in the study area has been attributed to the great shortage or lack of experts and competent workers in different social and economic spheres. The underlying courses, however, include chronic poverty, poor wages and life standard, poor social services, lack of employment investment and infrastructures which are considered to be among the great obstacles to the socio-economic development in the Island. The study found that the problem of skilled people out-migration has resulted into many positive and negative socio-economic consequences in the Island. The skilled people out-migration has to some extent contributed to the increasing awareness and access to education on the people in the Island. The movement has contributed to the changing attitudes on the social, cultural and economic development of the people. On the other hand, the issue has resulted into severe loss of skilled labour force and poor investment growth, deterioration of social services and poor economic growth which deliberately undermine economic and social welfare of the people. The results of the study established that there are a lot to be done in order to understand the real consequences of the problem. There is an immediate need to improve the infrastructure and social welfare of skilled people and create good investment atmosphere so as to minimize the nature and pace of the problem.