E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
Diaspora Engagement

Diaspora Engagement

Governments at both ends of the migration cycle increasingly recognize the value that diaspora populations bring to development efforts and are seeking ways to magnify the human capital and financial resources that emigrants and their descendants contribute to development in their countries of origin. Beyond the remittances they generate, diaspora members fulfill a key development role in their countries of origin: as major direct investors in critical and emerging industries, generous philanthropists and first movers in the growth of important sectors such as tourism, and in the development of human capital.

 

Recent Activity

A returned migrant with his family in Bangladesh
Articles
A migrant from Nepal in Qatar.
Articles
A temple in Dharamsala, India.
Articles
A Syrian woman in Turkey
A mobile money agent in Uganda
Articles
Paintings of the Algerian and Moroccan flags on a brick wall

Pages

Cover image for Migration, Integration, and Diaspora Engagement in the Caribbean
Reports
March 2023
By  Valerie Lacarte, Jordi Amaral, Diego Chaves-González, Ana María Sáiz and Jeremy Harris
Cover image for Deepening Labor Migration Governance at a Time of Immobility: Ghana and Senegal
Policy Briefs
July 2021
By  Camille Le Coz and Kate Hooper
coverthumb_global governance pandemic
Policy Briefs
October 2020
By  Kathleen Newland
Coverthumb GlobalCompact SkillPartnerships
Policy Briefs
September 2018
By  Kate Hooper
coverthumb tcmspain
Reports
March 2016
By  Joaquín Arango

Pages

A returned migrant with his family in Bangladesh

For a young country, Bangladesh has a complex migration history, with periods of forced migration during the partition of India and Pakistan as well as the 1971 war of independence. In recent years, labor emigration has proved a major economic boon to the country. This country profile reviews trends and the impact of emigration, with a particular focus on the effects of remittance sending and receipt.

A migrant from Nepal in Qatar.

Countries such as Nepal and the Philippines have grown reliant on sending workers abroad to earn money, skills, and connections that help boost their economies. In these cases, emigration has become a way for governments in the Global South to offer their citizens access to social services and protections that they could not otherwise provide. This article details the emergence of this new mode of state-society relations.

A temple in Dharamsala, India.

The number of Tibetan refugees in India, Nepal, and Bhutan has been on a steady decline since the mid-2000s, posing a threat to the future of an exile community that has developed a robust governance, cultural, educational, and religious structure. While the Tibetan government-in-exile has become a model for displaced communities, a series of factors have contributed to the shrinking population in South Asia, as this article describes.

A Syrian woman in Turkey

Turkey is home to the world’s largest refugee population, a fact that has been a source of pride, a geopolitical tool, and a logistical challenge. This article shows how the millions of Syrians who have arrived since 2011 comprise just one aspect of Turkey’s rich and complex migration history. The country has been a significant host, a transit point for individuals heading to Europe, and a source of migrant laborers.

A mobile money agent in Uganda

Digital remittances services tend to be cheaper than traditional banks or money transfer operators, and may be more convenient for many users. The COVID-19 pandemic helped speed up the digitization of remittances, but key hurdles remain. This article outlines the promise and challenges of these new platforms.

Pages

Image of women and young children from Ukraine arriving at train station in Bucharest
Commentaries
October 2022
By  Maria Vincenza Desiderio and Kate Hooper
Image of Central American migrant caravan passing through Chiapas, Mexico
Commentaries
April 2022
By  Ariel G. Ruiz Soto and Andrew Selee
graeme_hugo_highres
Commentaries
January 2015
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou
Expert Q&A, Audio
August 24, 2023

MPI Europe Associate Director Camille Le Coz discusses migration dynamics in West Africa and and how African leaders are responding to these trends with Leander Kandilige, a senior lecturer at the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of Ghana.

Valerie Lacarte on Webinar
Video, Audio
March 9, 2023

This expert conversation reviews migration in nine Caribbean countries, outlining challenges and opportunities for the integration of the migrant population and a successful engagement with diasporas to advance development, along with recommendations to strengthen the region’s capacity to accommodate changing patterns of migration.

Haiti School Children
Video, Audio
March 9, 2023

En este webinar, expertos del Banco Interamericano (BID) y el Migration Policy Institute (MPI) presentaron las principales conclusiones de su nueva publicación sobre la realidad migratoria de la región y compartieron algunos de los desafíos y oportunidades para la integración de la población migrante y para capitalizar el potencial de sus diásporas como un impulso para el desarrollo.

Expert Q&A, Audio
November 17, 2022

Guyana is a small country in South America that will be greatly transformed by the recent discovery of massive offshore oil reserves. This episode of Changing Climate, Changing Migration discusses how the world’s fastest growing economy is confronting environmental change, particularly with economic growth and proximity to troubled Venezuela likely to drive significant immigration.

Video, Audio
April 22, 2021

This webinar examines what roles diasporas could play in the development cooperation programs of countries of destination, as well as the potential challenges and opportunities for policy design.

Pages

Recent Activity

Articles

Los países de América Latina y el Caribe están siendo transformados por crisis políticas y económicas, nuevos acuerdos de libre circulación y otras tendencias. La cantidad de inmigrantes que viven en la región casi se ha duplicado desde 2010, un cambio increíble en un corto período de tiempo. Este artículo da sentido a una profunda transición en curso en el hemisferio occidental.

Articles

Political and economic crises, new free-movement arrangements, and other trends are transforming countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, a region once known primarily for its emigration. The number of immigrants living in the region has nearly doubled since 2010, an incredible change in a short period of time. This article makes sense of a profound transition underway in the Western Hemisphere.

Video, Audio, Webinars
March 9, 2023

This expert conversation reviews migration in nine Caribbean countries, outlining challenges and opportunities for the integration of the migrant population and a successful engagement with diasporas to advance development, along with recommendations to strengthen the region’s capacity to accommodate changing patterns of migration.

Video, Audio, Webinars
March 9, 2023

En este webinar, expertos del Banco Interamericano (BID) y el Migration Policy Institute (MPI) presentaron las principales conclusiones de su nueva publicación sobre la realidad migratoria de la región y compartieron algunos de los desafíos y oportunidades para la integración de la población migrante y para capitalizar el potencial de sus diásporas como un impulso para el desarrollo.

Reports
March 2023

Although Caribbean migration is often discussed in terms of movement to North America and Europe, migration within the region has increased notably in recent years. With people on the move for work or study, to join family, and to seek safety from natural disasters or persecution, this mobility takes many forms. This report explores Caribbean migration trends and the policies and institutions put in place at national and regional levels to manage them.

Expert Q&A, Audio
November 17, 2022

Guyana is a small country in South America that will be greatly transformed by the recent discovery of massive offshore oil reserves. This episode of Changing Climate, Changing Migration discusses how the world’s fastest growing economy is confronting environmental change, particularly with economic growth and proximity to troubled Venezuela likely to drive significant immigration.

Commentaries
October 2022

People displaced from Ukraine are finding work more rapidly in European countries than prior refugee cohorts. But uncertainty over how long they will stay, combined with hurdles such as language barriers, has meant many are prioritizing any job over the right job. This commentary examines how policymakers could address this waste of skills as they seek to fill pressing labor needs and facilitate deeper integration of the new arrivals.

Articles

The discovery of massive oil reserves off the Guyana coast will bring immense riches to this small South American country. This windfall will draw migrant labor and the return of some diaspora members to Guyana, which has one of the world's highest emigration rates. It also could accelerate climate displacement in a country where 90 percent of the population lives in coastal areas below the sea level. This article explores the changes ahead.

Pages