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

The flags of the United States and Canada.
Articles
June 15, 2021
Canadian Immigrants in the United States
By Emma Israel and Jeanne Batalova
Photo of computer lab at the Jugaani village school in Georgia
Commentaries
June 2021
Achieving the “Partnership” in the European Union’s Talent Partnerships
By  Kate Hooper
Multimedia
April 22, 2021
Missing Ingredients in Diaspora Engagement in Development: Destination-Country Policies and Integration
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Multimedia
April 2, 2021
The Benefits of Climate Migration
Arrivals from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, depart a train in Moscow.
Articles
February 3, 2021
The Eurasian Economic Union: Repaving Central Asia’s Road to Russia?
By Oybek Madiyev
New Approaches to Climate Change and Migration: Building the Adaptive Capacity of Mobile Populations
Reports
December 2020
New Approaches to Climate Change and Migration: Building the Adaptive Capacity of Mobile Populations
By  Carol Farbotko
thailand flooding climate migration
Articles
December 3, 2020
Building Climate Resilience through Migration in Thailand
By Patrick Sakdapolrak and Harald Sterly
2020 IOM MuseMohammad Border area of Haquillas is home to several Venezuelans
Multimedia
October 27, 2020
Un Diálogo con Miembros de Coalición por Venezuela

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Books
July 2013
How Can Talent Abroad Induce Development at Home? Towards a Pragmatic Diaspora Agenda
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Policy Briefs
November 2012
Engaging the Asian Diaspora
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Kathleen Newland
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Books
June 2012
Developing a Road Map for Engaging Diasporas in Development: A Handbook for Policymakers and Practitioners in Home and Host Countries
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Kathleen Newland
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Books
April 2012
Hoja de ruta para la participación de las diásporas en el desarrollo: Un manual para políticos y profesionales de los países de origen y de acogida
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Kathleen Newland
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Books
April 2012
Comment associer les diasporas au développement: Manuel a l’usage des decideurs et praticiens dans les pays d’origine et d’accueil
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Kathleen Newland
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Books
November 2010
Diasporas: New Partners in Global Development Policy
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Reports
November 2010
Voice After Exit: Diaspora Advocacy
By  Kathleen Newland
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Reports
October 2010
Mobilizing Diaspora Entrepreneurship for Development
By  Kathleen Newland

Pages

Arrivals from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, depart a train in Moscow.
Feature
February 3, 2021
The Eurasian Economic Union: Repaving Central Asia’s Road to Russia?

In recent decades Russia has been increasingly reliant on Central Asian migrant workers. Those workers, in turn, have sent back remittances that have been crucial for their countries of origin. Since 2015, many of these ex-Soviet countries have come together in the Eurasian Economic Union to solidify their bonds and ease migrants' passage to Russia. This article explores the bloc and how it reflects Russia's role in the region.

thailand flooding climate migration
Feature
December 3, 2020
Building Climate Resilience through Migration in Thailand

Migration can help build resilience against the encroaching effects of climate change. Instead of being passive victims of environmental degradation, individuals sometimes move to gain money, knowledge, and skills that can fortify their household of origin. Migrant workers from Thailand demonstrate how and under what conditions this process works.

Indian New Jersey
Spotlight
October 16, 2020
Indian Immigrants in the United States

There are 2.7 million Indian immigrants in the United States, making them the second-largest immigrant group after Mexicans. This number has increased dramatically in recent years, growing 13-fold between 1980 and 2019. This article provides an overview of this population, which is more highly educated, more likely to work in management positions, and higher-earning than the U.S. born and overall immigrant population.

The National Museum of History in Tirana, Albania features a large mosaic with nationalist imagery.
Feature
August 25, 2020
Southeastern Europe Looks to Engage its Diaspora to Offset the Impact of Depopulation

Southeastern Europe is experiencing one of the sharpest depopulations in the world, with countries such as Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia on pace to see their populations shrink by at least 15 percent in coming decades. To counter this trend, governments in the region, NGOs, and the private sector are increasingly, if unevenly, tapping into large diaspora communities to spur economic growth and strengthen cultural ties.

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Profile
August 19, 2020
Haiti’s Painful Evolution from Promised Land to Migrant-Sending Nation

For more than a century, Haiti was considered a prime destination for migrants from the United States and around the world. In the wake of the Haitian Revolution, Haiti marketed itself to freed slaves and others as an island haven where they could break free from the strictures of the United States and a global system of slavery. That changed in the 20th century. Now, there are roughly 1.6 million Haitians living in other countries.

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Video
November 30, 2010

Diasporas: New Partners in Global Development Policy

Over the past year, MPI has partnered with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to examine how diasporas contribute to – or detract from - development efforts in their countries of origin. MPI and USAID have published an edited volume of the research. Please join us for the release of the book where speakers will discuss new thinking on the role of diaspora engagement in U.S. foreign and development policy.

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Recent Activity

Policy Briefs
December 2015

Shortage Amid Surplus: Emigration and Human Capital Development in the Philippines

The Philippines has the most sophisticated labor-exporting model in the world, with 1.8 million temporary workers deployed in 2014 alone. This issue in brief reviews the impacts of the Philippines’ successful labor export policy on skills development and human capital growth within the country.

Audio
November 24, 2015

Addressing the Implications of the Emigration of Skilled and Educated Europeans

A discussion on how governments and societies can retain their most valuable workers, turn emigration challenges into opportunities, and capture more of the potential benefits of emigration.

Reports
November 2015

The Re-Emergence of Emigration from Ireland: New Trends in An Old Story

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, Ireland has again experienced emigration flows on a much greater scale than most of its Western European counterparts. Unlike earlier outflows, however, a significant share of those leaving today are immigrants returning home or migrating elsewhere. The report also examines Ireland's diaspora engagement and return policies.

Reports
November 2015

The Southeast Asia-Australia Regional Migration System: Some Insights into the “New Emigration”

This report dispels the perception that flows between Australia and the ASEAN region are headed in one direction: to Australia. Using unpublished administrative data, the authors sketch a complex picture of skilled Australian emigration to ASEAN, significant temporary movements of skilled workers in both directions, and close connections between the two regions even after migrants permanently return to their country of origin.

Reports
November 2015

Rethinking Emigration: Turning Challenges into Opportunities (Transatlantic Council Statement)

While European countries struggle to manage the recent influx of refugees, many are separately facing a less visible trend: large numbers of talented residents leaving. This Council Statement from the Transatlantic Council on Migration's twelfth plenary meeting examines the new reality of emigration from middle- and high-income countries and identifies how governments can mitigate the costs of emigration and "brain drain."

Articles
September 10, 2015

Embracing Emigration: The Migration-Development Nexus in Albania

From ongoing emigration flows and a surge in asylum seekers, to more than 150,000 returnees, this country profile examines contemporary and historical migration trends in Albania. Driven by extreme poverty and unemployment, more than one-third of Albania's population has emigrated in the last 25 years. The government now seeks to capitalize on diaspora resources by linking migration and development policies.

Articles
July 29, 2015

Americans Abroad: A Disillusioned Diaspora?

While many countries are increasing engagement with their diasporas, U.S. policy has chiefly focused on U.S.-based diasporas from other countries, despite its own estimated overseas population of 7.6 million. This feature explores results from a survey of more than 1,400 U.S. citizens and 140 former citizens living abroad, many of whom are critical of limited U.S. government engagement with them even as restrictive financial reporting regulations have been imposed.
Articles
June 18, 2015

Redefining Nepal: Internal Migration in a Post-Conflict, Post-Disaster Society

Even as Nepal will lean more heavily on its international diaspora to help recover from devastating earthquakes that killed thousands and decimated parts of the country, the disasters have had effects on internal migration. Class and gender dynamics have long driven significant internal flows. This feature article explores migration trends in Nepal, including movement between ecological zones, growing urbanization, and the feminization of an increasingly mobile workforce.

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