4th theme of the e-consultation

We are pleased to announce the final round of our e-consultation. Theme 4 is about “Diaspora and Development”. 
 
The role of diasporas in development strategies, poverty reduction and economic growth is attracting considerable policy interest, involving diasporas, host countries and home countries. The interests of these diverse stakeholders meet around one main question: What can be done today to maximize the development benefits of migration for all?

Diasporas have been making contributions for a long time, without waiting for policy to mobilize them and sometimes even in spite of these. However, diaspora contributions are directly related to institutional frameworks, socio-economic settings, political environments as well as issues of perceptions, images, trust and social identification, in both the home and host country. 

While there is a growing policy interest in tapping, mobilizing and channelling diaspora contributions, the role of policies should be clearly defined, and the approaches that can effectively facilitate the engagement of diasporas for development understood to ensure that diasporas are not deprived of the ownership of their contributions (IOM, Engaging Diasporas as Development Partners for Home and Destination Countries: Challenges for Policymakers, IOM Migration Research Series, No. 26, January, 2007).

Kindly find below some key questions, on which we hope you can share your views:

1. How to include Diasporas in existing development strategies? Can they be an actor/interlocutor in the development debates? 
2. What are major donor’s initiatives in support of diasporas (e.g. EU-Africa Dialogue on Migration and Development)?
3. What policies could facilitate remittances flows and transfer systems in rural areas?
4. How and what needs to be done to mobilize and channel remittances for rural development? 

In the final debate, we would focus on how we can engage diasporas in rural development by suggesting some programs, policies and/or advocating for translating existing policies that can harness the potentials of migration for rural development. We are also eager to receive information on existing initiatives.

We are very grateful to our contributors of the past debates. We sincerely look forward to your active participation in our last thematic discussion.  

On behalf of the organizers,

Leila Rispens-Noel

Coordinator, E-consultation