Yusef Taylor reporting from London, United Kingdom
The Interim Executive Director, Africa-Europe Development Platform (AEDP) has argued that the Diaspora has a massive opportunity “to play the role of a broker” between the European and the African Unions to ensure that policies needed to implement development initiatives progress.
Chairing a policy seminar in London this week themed “Europe and Africa Post 2015 – Migration, Diasporas, and Development”, Mr. Gibril Faal said since the Diaspora lives abroad; “they have vested interest in both regions and could be able to play the role of mediator between the two regional bodies.”
According to Mr Faal, political impasse is seen as one of the challenges in relation to the role of migration and the Diaspora. It presents “a serious risk of missed opportunities due to political impasse between the two regional Unions.”
In the context of the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the seminar sought to highlight among other things, sufficient opportunities to tackle migration and development. This is why Africa Europe Development Platform (AEDP) in consultation with the Diaspora, is aiming to foster good relations and facilitating development in Africa with European support.
The initiative will be pursued through delivery of services to diaspora organisations and individuals in both Europe and Africa.
Since 2016 will mark the beginning of a new era for development and policy across the globe as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the London policy seminar provided a platform for Diaspora organisations and individuals to discuss the latest policies to be implemented by the UN. More importantly, it places key emphasis on how the Diaspora can contribute towards development projects for the benefit of developing countries.
With discussion from representatives of organisations from diaspora, NGOs and other stakeholders, high level experts delivered thought-provoking presentations on the topical issues around migration and development.
As interim executive director of the platform, Mr. Faal reminded the gathering of the crucial timing of the soon-to-start new phase in a paradigm shift towards global approaches to universal development indicators called the Sustainable Development Goals.
The end of 15 years of MDGs has heralded a new set of proposed goals, a process that included four years of intensive consultations and negotiations. “The last year has been particularly exciting in more ways than one,” Faal noted, adding that the policy seminar was aimed at highlighting some of the challenges in relation to the role of migration and the Diaspora.
The risk of “Short Termism”, which almost all governments are obsessed with, was a key highlight, because governments are so obsessed with short term results… another is the ‘Old danger of Non Implementation’. Mr. Faal said the world is full of brilliant policies in want of implementation – hence the need to identify the conceptual and practical challenges and get on with it.
Marginalisation of Civil Society and the Diaspora was another key highlight. According to Mr. Faal, this is a constant problem as marginalised civil society groups can only make less of an impact in implementing development initiatives.
Video on Twitter of Gibril Faal “the challenge of Short Termism”.
Ms. Raghd Hamid – Board Member and Spokesperson, African Diaspora Youth Network Europe (ADYNE) said the youth network mainly focuses on highlighting the involvement of Youth in Policies from start to finish. It’s very difficult to apply a one-size-fits-all approach to policy because every Diaspora has its unique set of complications and skills; to ensure success they need to be considered, she said.
Nonetheless, there are specific sets of formulas that are needed at every strategy that is geared towards Diaspora engagement. Youth are one of the main Diaspora resources and account for over 60% of the Diaspora.
“We believe that there is need for more integrated policies aimed at young people, formulated with young people and carried out by young people in the Diaspora. There is a need to make the Diaspora Youth an instrumental part of every discussion that is held, every decision that is made and every policy that is implemented,” Ms Hamid argued.
Dr. Laura Hammond – Convenor, Migration, Mobility, and Development Research Cluster, SOAS University of London said as an academic, she would assume the role of a critic.
“I want to challenge the notion that the SDGs are a victory or a positive step forward. It’s good to see that migration is being included in the SDGs but I have to point out that some of the wording can be used to tighten controls on migration,” she pointed out.
She cited Target 10.7 which aims to “facilitate orderly, regular, responsible migration…” This she highlighted, could work against the goals of development. “Looking elsewhere at migration in the Balkans, nearly one in four people live outside the country and as much as 10% of the GDP is made up of remittances. This forms a key aspect of the economic lifeline which only slowed down with the economic recession. It’s very difficult to make a distinction between a refugee and a migrant as a lot of migrants are refugees fleeing from violence,” she argued.
Baroness Young of Hornsey argues: “It appears as if the word Diaspora is losing its historical context and being replaced with the term immigrants.”
“Not a lot of organisations are aware of the contributions that the Diaspora is making towards development. We need to highlight that there are a good number of Diaspora individuals who are already engaged in development activities and need more support to expand their capacity to deliver development initiatives to developing countries,” she said.
Baroness Young went on to argue that remittances have been getting a lot of coverage “but the other issues are not being discussed enough”.