What made China the world’s factory? What made India the world’s technology hub? What made Israel a leading innovation centre? Connecting with their diasporas in the United States.
Today the world is more globalized, interconnected and interdependent than ever before. The recent economic crisis that has been besieging the world shows us that is it no longer possible for any nation state to consider itself an ‘island’, nor is it possible to be immune to the ebbs and flows of global economics.
In order to be able to fully leverage this globality, it is essential that countries design and implement comprehensive diaspora strategies for engaging with their global citizens and friends. The size of a country’s populace can no longer be calculated within the contours of its borders, rather it must be viewed through the global lens of migration
diaspora.’ As noted by Dolman ‘The past few decades have seen rapid growth in the movement of goods and factors of production. The volume of international trade grew twice as fast as world output during the 1990s and the volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) grew twice as fast as trade. Economies are rapidly integrating and becoming more closely dependent upon each other. The international movement of people is an important feature of this integrated global economy and encompass those who are defined as ‘the diaspora.’ As noted by Dolman ‘The past few decades have seen rapid growth in the movement of goods and factors of production. The volume of international trade grew twice as fast as world output during the 1990s and the volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) grew twice as fast as trade. Economies are rapidly integrating and becoming more closely dependent upon each other. The international movement of people is an important feature of this integrated global economy.’
Considering the diaspora as a national asset is certainly not a new phenomenon. Diaspora strategies that extend across a range of social, cultural, political, educational and financial dimensions are now being implemented by both developing countries and developed countries, including New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Israel, Ireland and India, to name but a few.
Boyle and Kitchin define a diaspora strategy as ‘an explicit and systematic policy initiative or series of policy initiatives aimed at developing and managing relationships between homelands and diasporic populations. These policy initiatives vary from highly formalized and structured programs to projects that are quite light in conception and application. A diaspora strategy is perhaps best thought of then as an overarching framework for providing a level of coherence to the range of diaspora policies devised and implemented by a variety of agencies.’2 Although there can be many facets to a country’s diaspora strategy, it can be said that, by and large, countries tend to pursue similar initiatives, with much in common in terms of philosophy and approach but there is no ‘one size fits all’ diaspora strategy. Obviously countries differ greatly in terms of their macroeconomic circumstances, the history of their diaspora, their size, geography and general resources to successfully pursue a diaspora strategy. Also, as many of these initiatives have been enacted recently it is too soon to assess them fully. Moreover, it has been purported that ‘many diaspora programs are ‘living dead’ – they are not failures and they generate enough interest to maintain their funding, yet their development impact is very limited.’3 However, the fundamental difference between those countries that will ultimately succeed and those that will fall short of expectations lies in one thing only – excellence in execution.
Understanding the basics
Who?: Governments around the world should begin to think about their diasporas in new ways and seek to build mutually beneficial relationships and partnerships with them. Rather than viewing them as being ‘lost’ to the homeland, they can re-engage with the homeland through strategic diaspora initiatives such as formal mentoring programs, investment and trade programs, and cultural initiatives. They do not need to return in order to make a difference.
Why?: Global diasporas constitute an obvious collective of people through whom networks can be created and individuals mobilized for mutual benefit of both diasporas and the home country.
How?: Global diasporas serve as an important conduit, facilitating the two-way flow of capital. That capital presents itself in every form be it human, social, intellectual, cultural or financial. Looking at capital flows alone, the transfer of funds in the form of remittances, bonds, philanthropy or business investment is massive by any scale, and growing.
*Information Obtained from the Global Diaspora Toolkit by Kingsley Aikins and Nicola White. We will be summarising chapters from this toolkit every Thursday Evening.
