Diaspora Empowerment and Engagement

The project "Enhancing the Role of the Georgian Emigrants at Home (ERGEM)" is funded by the European Union and implemented by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in cooperation with project partners. The main aim of the project is to contribute to strengthening the ties between Georgians abroad and Georgian institutions in order to increase diaspora contributions to Georgia's economic development.

The African Diaspora Policy Centre (ADPC) programme Strengthening Policy Making Capacities of African Diaspora Ministries (SEDIMA), which ran from July 2012 to July 2015, aims to contribute to strengthening policy making capacities and practical operations of African government officials serving at the newly-formed Diaspora Ministries and related institutions tasked with overseeing Diaspora and development-related matters.

This project of the EU aims to contribute to the protection of rights of Armenian citizens leaving for work abroad, economic stabilisation and reintegration of labour/circular migrants and the prevention of irregular migration. The specific objective is to empower all stakeholders in Armenian labour/circular migration in order to make migration work better for development.

Main Activities

• Inter-agency networking within migration environment;

• Study of reintegration programs;

• Training and study trips for government agencies;

The Disposition of the Prime-Minister on the implementation of the-whole-of-Government approach on Migration and Diaspora wsa signed on 07.06.2013. According to the document in all national authorities (30 state institutions) there is a focal point responsible for implementation, and a key person responsible for promotion of the Diaspora Policies. The novelty of the Moldovan Mainstreaming is based on two key items – empiric-based approach to policy design and policy coherence issue.

Remittances from migrants are a major source of financing for the economies of developing countries and of the recipient populations. They are of great benefit to large segments of the population which, without these resources, would live in conditions of abject poverty. Consequently, remittance flows tend to remain stable even when the migrants’ countries of residence are beset by economic and financial crisis. They seem to be less volatile than official development assistance and foreign direct investment.

This bilateral program aims to facilitate actions undertaken by Senegalese diaspora members living in France for the economic and social development of their country of origin. It has four main components:

In 2009 the Swedish government appointed an independent Parliamentary Committee on Circular Migration and Development, with the task of examining the link between circular migration and development by mapping circular migration to and from Sweden and identifing factors that influence migrants’ opportunities to circulate.

The Swedish Public Employment Service leads a 3-year project 2012-2014 aiming to strengthening the capacity of Moldovan authorities to manage return migration and supporting social and economic reintegration of returning Moldovan citizens, informing the Moldovan population on the possibilities of working and living legally in the EU and enhancing the capacity of Moldovan Diaspora Associations to better maximize the links between migration and labour market development in destination countries and in Moldova.

The overall objective of the project is to strengthen Georgia’s capacities to harness the development potential of its Mobility Partnership (MP) for the benefit of migrants, the sending and receiving country. This shall be achieved by means of activities in four components:

The German money transfer site (www.geldtransfair.de), shows current rates charged by MTOs and financial institutions, as a transparent way of informing and helping diaspora select cost effective transfer modes.