Review: 'Closing the Distance: How Governments Strengthen Ties with their Diasporas'

First it is important to declare an interest. The organisation I work with, the African Foundation for Development – AFFORD, has since 1994 been engaged in the issues at the heart of this book. Namely, enhancing and expanding the contributions that one particular diaspora – the African one – makes to development in their countries of origin.

The focus of the work has been threefold – first, making the diaspora themselves much more effective as agents of transformation. Second, engaging and integrating their efforts into the development policies of their host countries and other international agencies and finally, integrating their efforts into the programmes and policies of their countries of origin.

It is really this third area of AFFORD’s work that this extremely useful book expands on. Through four essays it explores how the resources of diasporas abroad are being harnessed by home governments around the world. The issue of diaspora engagement has jumped up the policy agenda for most home governments in response to the huge financial flows represented by remittances (for some governments the figure is between 10 and 40 per cent of GDP) and the importance of skills and knowledge transfer, given the loss of highly skilled people in the brain drain. However, the knowledge and research has not kept up with developments, remaining anecdotal, country specific or abstract.

Dovelyn Agunias’ essay kicks off the book with a much needed overview of how 30 developing countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central and South America are institutionalising diaspora engagement within their governments. The definition of the 'scattered seeds' is wide, and includes temporary and permanent migrants. As you would expect, the approaches to institutionalising involvement are wide and diverse, from distinct diaspora ministries, institutions at all levels of government (including consulates and embassies abroad), to creating quasi-government institutions.

India, Syria, Haiti, Georgia, Bangladesh are amongst those which have dedicated ministries. The ministries aim to inform those abroad of conditions on the ground. For instance, the Ministry for Overseas Indian Affairs runs a three week 'Know India' internship programme among second and subsequent generations – to encourage investment, skills and knowledge sharing, and ultimately return and settlement.

Agunias’ research suggests that success or failure for the various interventions at whichever level depends on how seriously the governments have undertaken the initial research with their diasporas before setting up the agency (the process of building trust with diasporas is key); the resources that are committed (many of the initiatives have noble goals and ambitions but are under resourced); avoiding bureaucratic rivalries; and ensuring that diaspora engagement is linked and integrated into national development plans.

The next three essays move beyond an overview to case studies of specific countries written by insiders. Patricia Tomas, the former secretary of labour and employment and currently chairperson of the Development Bank of Philippines, considers the experience of Philippines in 'Protecting overseas Filipino workers: The government’s role in the contract labour migration cycle'. Dr Badara Macalou, who is minister for Malians abroad and African integration, reflects on 'Creating partnerships with diasporas – The Malian experience'. Finally, Carlos Gutierrez, consul general of Mexico in Sacramento, California and former executive director, Institute of Mexicans Abroad, looks at the important and ground breaking work of the 'The Institute of Mexicans Abroad: An effort to empower the diaspora'.

Since the 1970s the Philipines has been a pioneer in sending out temporary workers to the Middle East. Each year up to a million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are deployed (generating up 10 per cent of Gross National Product (GNP) from their remittances). The government's major effort is directed at ensuring the administrative structures to process these huge numbers and the safety and rights of the OFWs, in order to protect such an important sector of the economy. There is less focus on engaging or harnessing the resources of the broader diaspora of permanently settled Filipinos or their descendants – or indeed recognising migration as a development tool.

This latter approach is precisely what Mali has attempted to do since the return of democracy to the country in 1991, with permanently settled Malians and their descendants abroad being designated the ‘9th region of Mali’. Dr Badara Macalou notes that the vast majority of Malians abroad (over two million) live in neighbouring Cote D’Ivoire, with only three per cent living in Europe. However it is the latter group that send back three-quarters of the remittances, which sets up an interesting policy balancing act between the large numbers in neighbouring countries who are not as economically active, educated or skilled, compared to those in Europe, where special targeting delivers major rewards.

Through the High Council of Malians Abroad (HCME), members of the diaspora in over 50 countries can feed their ideas back to the Malian government (and into the ministry of Malians Abroad and African Integration. Dr Macalou stresses that the focus is on consultation and partnership (with nationals and international agencies) in driving forward delivery in areas such as bringing back skilled professionals for short periods, given the resource constraints of the Malian government.

Meanwhile the Mexican government has developed many of the most innovative programmes in this area as it engages with its 12 million Mexican born migrants in the US and their 19 million descendants. Carlos Gutierrez eloquently describes the working of the government’s Institute of Mexicans Abroad (IME), which focuses both on integration in the US as well as development in Mexico – all facilitated through the 50 consulates in the US. Communities are encouraged by the government to organise themselves frequently through their region of origin, to federate these grassroots bodies into larger bodies, which can then deliver major programmes such as the ‘Three-for-one-programme’ where a dollar generated by a diaspora organisation can attract matching dollars from the local, state, and federal government. It has meant that diaspora has been able to initiate major infrastructural projects, with their elected representatives present at the point delivery.

Comparing three very different approaches in ‘Closing the Distance’ demonstrates what has always been clear in this area – that while countries can learn from each other, it is their own national priorities and understanding of the needs of their migrants and diasporas that should drive policy. There are overarching principles that all need to take on board such as the need to for governments to build social capital and relationships of trust with their diasporas abroad. This means consulting widely with their diasporas and creating the durable and transparent structures that can allow for meaning engagement.

‘Closing the Distance’ has added a lot of really useful knowledge in our understanding of the issues migration and development.

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* Closing the Distance: How Governments Strengthen Ties with their Diasporas, Dovelyn R. Agunias, ed., Migration Policy Institute 2009, is published by Brookings Institution Press (ISBN 978-0-9742819-5-7).
* Onyekachi Wambu is information officer at the African Foundation for Development.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.