In September 2024, Kenya and Germany signed a bilateral labour mobility agreement that many celebrated as a new chapter of opportunity. The deal opened doors for Kenyan nurses, caregivers, and trainees to work in Germany, a country facing acute labour shortages in its health and care sectors.
For Kenya, this was portrayed as a win-win: our young, skilled workforce would find gainful employment abroad while sending remittances home to support families and fuel the economy.
Yet, as we explored in our article “The Price of Mobility” published by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), the reality is far more complex. The costs of mobility: economic, social, and systemic; often remain invisible.
Beneath the Promise of Opportunity
Labour migration, particularly in the care sector, is not just about jobs. It is about power, equity, and voice.
Germany recruits to fill gaps created by an ageing population. Kenya, meanwhile, trains thousands of health workers, only to see a portion of that human capital migrate abroad. Each nurse or caregiver who leaves represents years of public investment, resources our already-strained health system can scarcely afford to lose.
This imbalance raises hard questions. When migration pathways are celebrated as development success stories, do we also account for what, and who, is left behind?
Mobility Without Voice
One of the most troubling dimensions of current labour mobility schemes is the limited participation of workers themselves in shaping or monitoring these agreements.
Too often, policies are negotiated at the state-to-state level, with little space for unions, associations, or migrant workers to influence how recruitment, deployment, or worker protection is managed. Without strong mechanisms for representation, we risk reproducing old inequalities under the guise of “partnership.”
In our research and advocacy, we have seen cases where opaque recruitment processes, high placement fees, and slow recognition of qualifications leave migrant workers vulnerable, even within formal agreements.
The Health System at a Crossroads
Kenya’s health system is already under immense pressure. Losing experienced nurses and caregivers to overseas recruitment compounds existing workforce shortages, especially in public facilities and rural areas.
Migration should not mean depletion. Our country must not become a training ground for export while our local health needs remain unmet.
If mobility is to be truly “development-oriented,” it must strengthen, not hollow out, our public health system. That means ensuring that for every nurse who leaves, another is supported to stay, grow, and serve locally with dignity and fair compensation.
Towards Fair and Inclusive Labour Mobility
We believe in the right to seek decent work abroad. But decent migration requires decent governance.
To make mobility equitable, both sending and receiving countries must:
Include worker voices: through unions, professional associations, and civil society, in policy design and oversight.
Guarantee fair recruitment and zero tolerance for exploitation.
Provide pre-departure and post-arrival support so workers understand their rights, benefits, and obligations.
Measure success not just by remittances or numbers deployed, but by outcomes for workers, their families, and the public systems affected.
As we have proposed, a Decent Migration Charter could offer a shared framework for accountability, anchored in human rights, gender equity, and transparency.
A Shared Responsibility
The Kenya–Germany labour mobility agreement can be a milestone, but only if it becomes a model of fairness and solidarity.
We must move beyond transactional migration towards partnerships that respect workers as contributors, not commodities. Governments, employers, unions, and development partners all share responsibility for ensuring that mobility does not come at the expense of justice or public welfare.
Ultimately, the price of mobility should not be paid by those least able to afford it.
This reflection builds on insights from the article “The Price of Mobility,” co-authored with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES). You can read the full piece on the FES website here.
