Global Diaspora andDevelopment ForumDublin, 31st October – 1st November 2014

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There is a growing international interest in the importance of linkages betweendiaspora and development. In both policyand academic sectors there is emerging

focus on the topic, as governments and agenciesattempt to identify and mainstream optimal modesof diaspora engagement for home and host countrydevelopment. Some countries have created ministries,institutions and programmes to promote diasporasas development agents. At the same time, there arediaspora-led initiatives to shape arenas of social,economic and political development. Yet, as weapproach an important crossroads leading up tothe post-2015 development agenda, there remainsignificant knowledge gaps about the forms andfunctions of diasporas in development practice.

The Global Diaspora and Development Forum,presented by the UCD Clinton Institute andDiaspora Matters and supported by Irish Aid,brought together international policymakers, civil society leaders, development agents andscholars to address global examples of diasporaengagement, explore fresh trends and share best

practices. Across two days of intense discussionthe participants covered a range of issues andthemes with great energy, critically engaging thespeakers and continuing conversations wellbeyond the sessions.

The tone was set by thewords of President BillClinton, who sent asupportive video message:

“What you are doingshould be a model for the rest of the world, so thanks for increasingthe positive forces

of our interdependence at a time when there is so much negative dominating theheadlines. Thanks again for building a worldof shared prosperity, shared responsibilitieswith a genuine sense of shared community.”

UCD ClintonInstitute

Report

This was a message that spoke to the ethos of theForum as we sought to explore the productive,shared challenges and opportunities of diasporaengagement with a sense that it is a dynamic force for change and a mirror of our global inter-dependence. Many speakers were conscious of thenegative perceptions and misrepresentations thatsurround migration and migrants today in manyparts of the world and the need to draw attentionto the positive contributions of migrant peoples tocontemporary societies. The focus on diasporaaccentuated these more constructive energies.Julien Simon, who leads the EUROMED III initiativefacilitating cooperation between Europe and itsSouthern neighbourhood, spoke of diaspora rolemodels as potential “tipping agents” in promotingpositive narratives about migration. Kinsley Aikins,CEO of Diaspora Matters, argued that fresh thinkingshould also be applied to the use of vocabulary inconceptualising the meaning and value of diasporas,noting the particular but congruent meaning ofterms such as “diaspora” and “alumni,” “emigration”and “mobility.” More provocatively, he argued that“governments should encourage emigration.”

In his plenary address Ambassador William Lacy Swing, Director General of the InternationalOrganization for Migration, underscored the factthat migration is a “megatrend” in the 21st century,an era of unprecedented human mobility –according to the United Nations, there are 232million international migrants and 740 millioninternal migrants living in the world today.Ambassador Swing spoke of the need to “changethe narrative on migration,” arguing that it has beenviewed as a problem to be solved rather than asolution to a problem. He acknowledged that therewere common but ill-informed fears about securityand identity that fed misunderstandings ofmigration and noted the lack of political courageneeded to address these. He described diaspora as “the single most neglected element of thedevelopment agenda” and spoke of several IOM initiatives, including the strengthening of recruitment practices and reducing costs of remittances through innovation on moneytransfers. In an eloquent and thoughtful address he concluded that the real challenge of migration is a challenge for all societies, to learn to managediversity.

In a warm welcoming speech Mr Jimmy Deenihan,Ireland’s Minister of State at the Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs with SpecialResponsibility for the Diaspora, pointed to thegrowing recognition among governments of theimportance of mobility and migration as contributorsto development. As well as citing Ireland’s experiencein this regard he outlined a number of challengesfor diaspora engagement in less developed countriesand in particular that of remittance charges:

One challenge we face is to make the cost ofsending remittances less onerous for diasporacommunities. Costs are coming down but sub-Saharan Africa remains the most expensiveregion in the world to send money to and this issomething that Ireland, the European Union andthe international community as a whole isdetermined to address.

Several Forum speakers took up the idea of“diaspora capital” in commentary on directinvestment, including remittances, philanthropy and entrepreneurship, but also defining this morebroadly in terms of human and knowledge capitals.In the opening session Kinsley Aikins, in dialoguewith Marielle Sander-Lindstrom of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, stressed the importance of understanding “diaspora capitalflows” as a defining feature of the confluence ofdiaspora with the age of globalisation. He noted the “soft power” qualities of diaspora engagementand presented several examples of successfulengagement by Indian, Chinese, Israeli and Irishgovernments - all had successfully networked theirdiasporas. Conscious of the growing interest in such activities he announced the publication of “75 Worldwide Diaspora Initiatives” by DiasporaMatters.

Minister Jimmy Deenihan (Minister of State at theDepartments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs with Special Responsibility for the Diaspora).

Other speakers focused on the role of media andICTs in facilitating diaspora capital flows in terms of communication and networking. Teddy Ruge, a social change activist from Uganda, argued that social media was providing new forms ofcommunity and activism for African diasporas and helping to “kickback the single narrative of the continent…everybody else was writing about us but we can now write about ourselves.” DanaDiminescu, the Director of Migration and DigitalStudies at the Foundation Maison des Sciences del’Homme in Paris, illustrated the Diaspora e-atlaswhich has archived and observed over 8,000migrant websites to map clusters and networks of diaspora communications across the web.

A common refrain that emerged in discussions of engagement and communications betweendiasporas and home or host countries was anemphasis on reciprocity, the need for this tofunction as a two-way process in which all partieslistened to the views and needs of the other. As Semhar Araia emphasised in her plenarypresentation, “diaspora is a process… a conversation”which involves mutual learning and “leadingtogether.”

An obstacle to such reciprocity, noted by severalcommentators, is that the resources of the diaspora are poorly understood by internationalorganisations and governments accustomed to formalised structures and practices ofdevelopment. This was clearly articulated in adiscussion session on the roles of diaspora inhumanitarian action and conflict transformation.Catherine Bragg, former Deputy Head of the UN

Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs,commented on why humanitarian organisationstend to treat diasporas with some suspicion, asinsufficiently neutral to fulfil humanitarian mandates.Yet, she believes this is changing, not least due to the growing realisation that “humanitarianeffectiveness will require more actors” and becausediaspora groups are demonstrating capacity to fillgaps in knowledge and action. Pat Gibbons, theDirector of UCD’s Centre for Humanitarian Action,expressed a similar view, noting that diasporaactors are often “in a precarious position” asdevelopment agents and could do more if given a collective voice. He argued that “diasporas dosimilar work to NGOs but they do it differently” – as such, they offer productive “challenges toWestern-centric thinking in humanitarian action.”

This argument is of a piece with AmbassadorSwing’s view that thinking (and policy) onmigration and diaspora requires “a holisticapproach” that moves beyond the established“humanitarian reactive approach.” Such a holisticapproach should not only open up thinking aboutformal and informal modes of development orhumanitarian action but also link up thinking aboutexternal and internal diasporas – including, as AnnaPlatonova of the International Organization forMigration astutely noted, the “potential overlapbetween diaspora politics targeting Europeannationals and migrants in Europe.”

This was underlined on the second day of theForum with juxtaposed sessions on Africandiasporas in Ireland and the UK and Ireland’sdiaspora engagement. The first of these sessionsfurther illuminated the undervalued resources ofdiaspora agents in development. Siddo Deva ofComic Relief in the UK outlined the pragmaticreasons for the British government’s engagementwith resident African diasporas while pointing upsome of the complexities of measuring diasporaaction in development. Speakers involved in Africandiaspora community cultures and politics in Irelandreferred to the energies of their communities as keyresources for development action yet lamented thelimited engagement of Irish government agenciesand NGOs with these communities. They stressedthe readiness and resourcefulness of Africandiasporas in Ireland as potential partners indevelopment work.

Pictured left: Martin Russell (Diaspora Matters), Kingsley Aikins(Diaspora Matters), Ambassador William Lacy Swing(International Organisation for Migration), Prof. Liam Kennedy(UCD Clinton Institute).

The last panel session of the Forum was devoted to Ireland’s (including Northern Ireland’s) diasporaengagement, exploring several dimensions of this,including philanthropy, tourism, sport, and conflicttransformation. It involved presentations oninitiatives that are widely viewed as notablesuccesses – including The Gathering and ConnectIreland – and on an organisation, the Gaelic AthleticAssociation, which continues to play a crucial roleas a resource and network for the Irish diaspora.Audience members from outside Ireland expressedinterest in the character and range of Irish diasporaengagements and in the lessons being learned.

Overall, the Global Diaspora and DevelopmentForum was an intense few days of discussion thatilluminated synergies among practitioners in thefields of diaspora and development and laid thefoundations for strategic collaborations andinitiatives that are still being discussed.

One such initiative was announced during theForum, the establishment of a Diaspora Instituteunder the direction of Dr Martin Russell, one of theorganisers of the event. The institute is designed to bridge the worlds of research, policy andpractitioners in this emergent area of interest. Dr Russell said it would “act as a key knowledge

resource by functioning as an independent thinktank along with supplying a detailed knowledgehub on all things diaspora.” Founding partnersinclude Diaspora Matters and UCD Clinton Institute.

The initiative echoes and materialises the aim of the Forum organisers to establish Dublin as anepicentre for diaspora research, training and policy,drawing on the clusters of existing and emergingactivities in these fields. This aim respects thehistory of diaspora engagement in Ireland andresponds to the new energies in recent years as wehave become more keenly aware of the importanceof diaspora outreach to our small island, especiallyin the wake of the global economic crisis. At thesame time we are conscious of the responsibility of diaspora engagement as a two-way process that must be based on recognition, respect andreciprocity.

The Forum, reflecting the growing internationalinterest in the importance of linkages betweendiaspora and development, has taken a lead indefining the nature and significance of theselinkages. Much of its energy was articulated by participants’ concurrence with President Clinton’sview that “diasporas can drive positive andenduring change.” Its legacy will be to furtherevidence this and to promote the active integrationof diaspora engagement and developmentplanning.

UCD ClintonInstitute

WITH THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS

Pictured left: Julien Simon (EUROMED Migration III), Anna Platonova (International Organisation for Migration) and Akram Mukhamatkulov (MIEUX II - ICMPD).