Diaspora Strategy :Ten Principles of Good Practice

ZBIN Continues with the agenda of Diaspora Engagement  looking at possible areas Governments in Southern Africa can benefit from implementing Diaspora Strategies. Last time we brought you the advantages that can accrue to both parties- Home Countries and the Diaspora.

Today we cover 10 principles of good practice in drafting Diaspora Strategies.

A diaspora strategy should be centralized enough to ensure that a common identity, sense of purpose, collective consciousness, economies of scale, and strategic priorities can be achieved, but loose enough to let a thousand flowers bloom. Coordinated anarchy is not entirely indispensable.

1. A diaspora strategy cannot privilege economic ties over social and cultural networks and still be sustainable.
2. A diaspora strategy needs to be mutually beneficial for both home countries and diasporic populations.
3. Countries that know their Diasporas well will be better placed to engage them.

5. Diaspora strategies should define ‘diaspora’ as broadly as possible to avoid racializing national social, cultural, economic, and political policies – and should include affinity Diasporas policies where appropriate.

6. The diaspora needs to be consulted before any diaspora strategy is rolled out; diaspora strategies must be co-authored if they are to work.
7. Diaspora strategies need to be transparent and need to be held accountable, but given the specificity and the many intangible benefits of policy interventions, distinctive and unique policy impact analysis tools and evaluative frameworks and metrics need to be developed.

8. There is no ideal institutional framework for coordinating diaspora strategies; each country needs to devise forms of engagement which reflect their own institutional histories, social, cultural, economic, and political needs, and the histories, structures and organization of their diaspora.

9. Diaspora strategies need to be brought into the growing international conversation about best practice and should pro-actively affiliate themselves with networks involved in policy dissemination.
10. Diaspora strategies need to be underpinned by a philosophically grounded rationale which resonates with the country’s deepest social, economic, cultural, and political needs at any point in time. Shallow slogans might lead to short-term gains but will fail over the long term; a meaningful overarching identity will galvanise and energize.

Credit: Prof. Mark Boyle, Prof. Rob Kitchin, and Dr. Delphine Ancien, NUI Maynooth, Irelan