E-consultation on Migration and Rural Development Launched

We are pleased to announce the third series of our e-consultation where we will discuss about the role of migrants and diaspora organisations in rural development.

There are many studies referring to the positive contributions of migrants’ remittances to development. However, many of these policy debates tend to separate remittances from migrants, or better said, they talk about remittances but not the senders of remittances.

Katleen Felix, Diaspora Liaison of Fonkoze Haiti, wrote on her Facebook pages her impression on the recent large gathering of policy makers and international aid agencies in Montreal, Canada to discuss how to respond to the needs of earthquake victims. She said during this meeting, there were about 700 participants but only 10 are Diasporas. The Haitian migrants were only invited for the first part of the conference and during the press conference at the end of the day.

Katleen lamented that policy makers give the impression that diasporas are important but at the international level, diasporas are really not recognised as equal development partners. Haitian diasporas who have the skills, expertise, and knowledge are not (yet) targeted to be involved in the relief and reconstruction process of Haiti.

The World Bank estimates that Haitians abroad send home $1.5 billion to 1.8 billion remittances per year, or higher. That is much more than all the foreign aid that Haiti receives and continues to sustain millions of families in Haiti who are dependent on remittances. Aid from international donors in the aftermath of the earthquake is highlighted by the media. The support provided by Haitian diasporas to the affected rural areas which are not getting any support at all is hardly recognised. An interesting article related to this issue can be viewed at: www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/columnists/let-haitians-already-in-u-s-help-rebuild-195030.html<http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/columnists/let-haitians-already-in-u-s-help-rebuild-195030.html>

In this third series, we would like to hear your experiences or views about diaspora organizations and their existing initiatives. It would be interesting to know some concrete examples of HTA (Hometown Associations)-driven projects or initiatives from different countries, particularly in the rural areas.

We will try answer two key questions, namely:

1)  What existing initiatives (best practices) do we know initiated by diaspora organizations which benefit their respective countries/communities of origin?

2)  How are the diaspora organisations organized and how they interact with other migrants and local communities of origin?

For more information, kindly read the short background note on theme 3 here below.

We would like to thank those who have contributed to the previous discussion. Please note that contributions related to the first and second themes are still welcome.

We look forward to an animated discussion on this third theme during the next two weeks.

For more information kindly visit: http://consultation-migration-en.blogspot.com/