Global Diaspora and Development Forum

UCD Clinton
Institute
Global Diaspora and
Development Forum
Dublin, 31st October – 1st November 2014
Report
here is a growing international interest
in the importance of linkages between
diaspora and development. In both policy
and academic sectors there is emerging
focus on the topic, as governments and agencies
attempt to identify and mainstream optimal modes
of diaspora engagement for home and host country
development. Some countries have created ministries,
institutions and programmes to promote diasporas
as development agents. At the same time, there are
diaspora-led initiatives to shape arenas of social,
economic and political development. Yet, as we
approach an important crossroads leading up to
the post-2015 development agenda, there remain
significant knowledge gaps about the forms and
functions of diasporas in development practice.
T
The Global Diaspora and Development Forum,
presented by the UCD Clinton Institute and
Diaspora Matters and supported by Irish Aid,
brought together international policymakers,
civil society leaders, development agents and
scholars to address global examples of diaspora
engagement, explore fresh trends and share best
DiasporaMatters
connect . create . collaborate
practices. Across two days of intense discussion
the participants covered a range of issues and
themes with great energy, critically engaging the
speakers and continuing conversations well
beyond the sessions.
The tone was set by the
words of President Bill
Clinton, who sent a
supportive video message:
“What you are doing
should be a model for
the rest of the world,
so thanks for increasing
the positive forces
of our interdependence at a time when
there is so much negative dominating the
headlines. Thanks again for building a world
of shared prosperity, shared responsibilities
with a genuine sense of shared community.”
irishtimes.com
This was a message that spoke to the ethos of the
Forum as we sought to explore the productive,
shared challenges and opportunities of diaspora
engagement with a sense that it is a dynamic
force for change and a mirror of our global interdependence. Many speakers were conscious of the
negative perceptions and misrepresentations that
surround migration and migrants today in many
parts of the world and the need to draw attention
to the positive contributions of migrant peoples to
contemporary societies. The focus on diaspora
accentuated these more constructive energies.
Julien Simon, who leads the EUROMED III initiative
facilitating cooperation between Europe and its
Southern neighbourhood, spoke of diaspora role
models as potential “tipping agents” in promoting
positive narratives about migration. Kinsley Aikins,
CEO of Diaspora Matters, argued that fresh thinking
should also be applied to the use of vocabulary in
conceptualising the meaning and value of diasporas,
noting the particular but congruent meaning of
terms 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 International
Organization for Migration, underscored the fact
that migration is a “megatrend” in the 21st century,
an era of unprecedented human mobility –
according to the United Nations, there are 232
million international migrants and 740 million
internal migrants living in the world today.
Ambassador Swing spoke of the need to “change
the narrative on migration,” arguing that it has been
viewed as a problem to be solved rather than a
solution to a problem. He acknowledged that there
were common but ill-informed fears about security
and identity that fed misunderstandings of
migration and noted the lack of political courage
needed to address these. He described diaspora
as “the single most neglected element of the
development agenda” and spoke of several
IOM initiatives, including the strengthening
of recruitment practices and reducing costs
of remittances through innovation on money
transfers. In an eloquent and thoughtful address
he concluded that the real challenge of migration
is a challenge for all societies, to learn to manage
diversity.
Minister Jimmy Deenihan (Minister of State at the
Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs
with Special Responsibility for the Diaspora).
In a warm welcoming speech Mr Jimmy Deenihan,
Ireland’s Minister of State at the Departments
of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs with Special
Responsibility for the Diaspora, pointed to the
growing recognition among governments of the
importance of mobility and migration as contributors
to development. As well as citing Ireland’s experience
in this regard he outlined a number of challenges
for diaspora engagement in less developed countries
and in particular that of remittance charges:
One challenge we face is to make the cost of
sending remittances less onerous for diaspora
communities. Costs are coming down but
sub-Saharan Africa remains the most expensive
region in the world to send money to and this is
something that Ireland, the European Union and
the international community as a whole is
determined to address.
Several Forum speakers took up the idea of
“diaspora capital” in commentary on direct
investment, including remittances, philanthropy
and entrepreneurship, but also defining this more
broadly in terms of human and knowledge capitals.
In the opening session Kinsley Aikins, in dialogue
with Marielle Sander-Lindstrom of the Global
Forum on Migration and Development, stressed
the importance of understanding “diaspora capital
flows” as a defining feature of the confluence of
diaspora with the age of globalisation. He noted
the “soft power” qualities of diaspora engagement
and presented several examples of successful
engagement by Indian, Chinese, Israeli and Irish
governments - all had successfully networked their
diasporas. Conscious of the growing interest in
such activities he announced the publication of
“75 Worldwide Diaspora Initiatives” by Diaspora
Matters.
Pictured left: Martin Russell (Diaspora Matters), Kingsley Aikins
(Diaspora Matters), Ambassador William Lacy Swing
(International Organisation for Migration), Prof. Liam Kennedy
(UCD Clinton Institute).
Other speakers focused on the role of media and
ICTs 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 of
community 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.” Dana
Diminescu, the Director of Migration and Digital
Studies at the Foundation Maison des Sciences de
l’Homme in Paris, illustrated the Diaspora e-atlas
which has archived and observed over 8,000
migrant websites to map clusters and networks
of diaspora communications across the web.
A common refrain that emerged in discussions
of engagement and communications between
diasporas and home or host countries was an
emphasis on reciprocity, the need for this to
function as a two-way process in which all parties
listened to the views and needs of the other.
As Semhar Araia emphasised in her plenary
presentation, “diaspora is a process… a conversation”
which involves mutual learning and “leading
together.”
An obstacle to such reciprocity, noted by several
commentators, is that the resources of the
diaspora are poorly understood by international
organisations and governments accustomed
to formalised structures and practices of
development. This was clearly articulated in a
discussion session on the roles of diaspora in
humanitarian action and conflict transformation.
Catherine Bragg, former Deputy Head of the UN
Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs,
commented on why humanitarian organisations
tend to treat diasporas with some suspicion, as
insufficiently neutral to fulfil humanitarian mandates.
Yet, she believes this is changing, not least due
to the growing realisation that “humanitarian
effectiveness will require more actors” and because
diaspora groups are demonstrating capacity to fill
gaps in knowledge and action. Pat Gibbons, the
Director of UCD’s Centre for Humanitarian Action,
expressed a similar view, noting that diaspora
actors are often “in a precarious position” as
development agents and could do more if given
a collective voice. He argued that “diasporas do
similar work to NGOs but they do it differently” –
as such, they offer productive “challenges to
Western-centric thinking in humanitarian action.”
This argument is of a piece with Ambassador
Swing’s view that thinking (and policy) on
migration and diaspora requires “a holistic
approach” that moves beyond the established
“humanitarian reactive approach.” Such a holistic
approach should not only open up thinking about
formal and informal modes of development or
humanitarian action but also link up thinking about
external and internal diasporas – including, as Anna
Platonova of the International Organization for
Migration astutely noted, the “potential overlap
between diaspora politics targeting European
nationals and migrants in Europe.”
This was underlined on the second day of the
Forum with juxtaposed sessions on African
diasporas in Ireland and the UK and Ireland’s
diaspora engagement. The first of these sessions
further illuminated the undervalued resources of
diaspora agents in development. Siddo Deva of
Comic Relief in the UK outlined the pragmatic
reasons for the British government’s engagement
with resident African diasporas while pointing up
some of the complexities of measuring diaspora
action in development. Speakers involved in African
diaspora community cultures and politics in Ireland
referred to the energies of their communities as key
resources for development action yet lamented the
limited engagement of Irish government agencies
and NGOs with these communities. They stressed
the readiness and resourcefulness of African
diasporas in Ireland as potential partners in
development work.
resource by functioning as an independent think
tank along with supplying a detailed knowledge
hub on all things diaspora.” Founding partners
include Diaspora Matters and UCD Clinton Institute.
Pictured left: Julien Simon (EUROMED Migration III),
Anna Platonova (International Organisation for Migration)
and Akram Mukhamatkulov (MIEUX II - ICMPD).
The last panel session of the Forum was devoted
to Ireland’s (including Northern Ireland’s) diaspora
engagement, exploring several dimensions of this,
including philanthropy, tourism, sport, and conflict
transformation. It involved presentations on
initiatives that are widely viewed as notable
successes – including The Gathering and Connect
Ireland – and on an organisation, the Gaelic Athletic
Association, which continues to play a crucial role
as a resource and network for the Irish diaspora.
Audience members from outside Ireland expressed
interest in the character and range of Irish diaspora
engagements and in the lessons being learned.
Overall, the Global Diaspora and Development
Forum was an intense few days of discussion that
illuminated synergies among practitioners in the
fields of diaspora and development and laid the
foundations for strategic collaborations and
initiatives that are still being discussed.
One such initiative was announced during the
Forum, the establishment of a Diaspora Institute
under the direction of Dr Martin Russell, one of the
organisers of the event. The institute is designed
to bridge the worlds of research, policy and
practitioners in this emergent area of interest.
Dr Russell said it would “act as a key knowledge
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The initiative echoes and materialises the aim
of the Forum organisers to establish Dublin as an
epicentre for diaspora research, training and policy,
drawing on the clusters of existing and emerging
activities in these fields. This aim respects the
history of diaspora engagement in Ireland and
responds to the new energies in recent years as we
have become more keenly aware of the importance
of diaspora outreach to our small island, especially
in the wake of the global economic crisis. At the
same time we are conscious of the responsibility
of diaspora engagement as a two-way process
that must be based on recognition, respect and
reciprocity.
The Forum, reflecting the growing international
interest in the importance of linkages between
diaspora and development, has taken a lead in
defining the nature and significance of these
linkages. Much of its energy was articulated by
participants’ concurrence with President Clinton’s
view that “diasporas can drive positive and
enduring change.” Its legacy will be to further
evidence this and to promote the active integration
of diaspora engagement and development
planning.