The Diaspora Team at the IOM HQ is pleased to present the second issue of the Global Diaspora Newsletter. Diasporas have invaluable economic, cultural, human, and social capital for societies. Governments, organizations, and partners across the world have recognized their potential as development actors in multiple initiatives. This newsletter seeks to highlight major diaspora stories, successes, events, resources, and more that are relevant to both diasporas themselves and their supporters. 

This report provides an overview of key good practices of diaspora organizations that engage in humanitarian response. These fourteen good practices were selected after consultations with diaspora organizations as well as institutional humanitarian actors. Each good practice is illustrated by two concrete examples of diaspora organizations who respond to crisis and emergency situations. The examples cover the variety of diaspora engaging in humanitarian assistance, in terms of nationalities, countries of residence and humanitarian sectors.

Tunisian Diaspora Humanitarianism in times of COVID-19

Executive Summary: On 16 August, 2021 the Taliban announced that they had gained control of Afghanistan. The takeover resulted in heated public debate about the twodecade war, the humanitarian implications of the withdrawal, and the future of women and civil society in Afghanistan.

The 2021 Virtual Global Diaspora Exchanges focused on the themes: Building Trust, Mobilizing Resources and Ensuring Sustainability. The exchanges explored the best practices across the regions and unpacked concerns and opportunities in supporting diaspora to reach their full potential. iDIASPORA, GRFDT, CISAN  and  ADEPT  recognize  the  growing  importance  of  the  discourse  on  empowering  the diverse  range  of  diaspora  actors  in  their  endeavours  to  participate  in  homeland  development.

This is one of three toolkits commissioned by the Danish Refugee Council’s Diaspora Programme  to UNU-MERIT/Maastricht University as part of its Diaspora Dialogue in Europe programming. The Diaspora Programme is implemented by DRC’s Civil Society Engagement Unit. DRC engages civil society actors rooted in and/or with direct ties to the Global South, and therefore considers diaspora transnational civil society actors an integral part of the civil society they work with.

This is one of three toolkits commissioned by the Danish Refugee Council’s Diaspora Programme to UNU-MERIT/Maastricht University as part of its Diaspora Dialogue in Europe programming. The Diaspora Programme is implemented by DRC’s Civil Society Engagement Unit. DRC engages civil society actors rooted in and/or with direct ties to the Global South, and therefore considers diaspora transnational civil society actors an integral part of the civil society they work with.

The Importance of African Diaspora Humanitarianism in Times of Crises The African diasporas are key humanitarian actors and stakeholders in humanitarian response, often complementing and filling in gaps left by institutional humanitarian partners (DEMAC 2018, Shabaka EU DiF 2021). Diasporas deliver interventions across all stages of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, from pre-crisis resilience building, emergency response, to post-crisis recovery and reconstruction.

La Guía Contribuciones y Contabilización proporciona orientación para los gobiernos y las autoridades nacionales que buscan comprender y medir las contribuciones económicas realizadas por las diásporas a su país de origen, más allá de las contribuciones que hacen a través de las remesas financieras. Estas contribuciones económicas incluyen inversión, comercio, turismo y filantropía.

This policy guide focuses on the role of entrepreneurship in enhancing the positive effects of migration on economic growth and development. It is a practical tool aimed at strengthening the humanitarian-development nexus urged by the World Humanitarian Summit in May 2016 and the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants adopted at the 71st United Nations General Assembly in September 2016.