The COVID-19 pandemic has initially decreased irregular migration to Europe by the poorest African youth. But more recently the migration numbers have been rising – especially in the Atlantic – and the desire to migrate remains very high. A trend expected to be kept in the foreseeable future. These are some of the results of the research project “Information Gaps and Irregular Migration to Europe” conducted by the Nova SBE NOVAFRICA Knowledge Center. This project was funded by European Union through a grant of one million euros to evaluate the impact of different policy interventions aimed at providing information and alternatives to irregular migration from West Africa to Europe. The project took place in The Gambia, the African country with the highest rate of irregular migration to Europe, and included work with 4000 potential migrants in the country. Read more here