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Diaspora – Migrant Communities

diaspora_web.jpgMigrants often live between two worlds, keeping a connection with their homeland. The SDC aims to promote the greater inclusion of these diasporas in the development strategies of host and home countries alike.

A migrant's integration in a host country does not preclude close contact with their homeland. The resources that diaspora offer can play a key role in development. Diaspora communities send money to relatives at home, and invest or are involved in development projects in their home countries. They bring the expertise they have learned abroad back to their homeland. They are mobile, as many travel between their host and home countries. Members of diaspora are familiar with the particular aspects of life in worlds, and speak their languages. The aims of diaspora communities are often a close match with those of development policy. In the debate about the effectiveness of traditional forms of development cooperation, diasporas are being viewed increasingly as a new force for development which can forge closer, constructive partnerships between states, development organizations and migrants.

Worth Knowing

• Transfer payments made by migrants to their home countries amount to several times the total volume of public-sector development aid.
• From Switzerland, foreign workers – including those crossing the border each day – transferred around USD 19 billion to their homelands in 2009. This makes Switzerland the third-largest country of origin for transfer payments, behind the USA and Russia.

Transferring Money Home
The transfer payments made by migrants to their home countries have risen sharply in recent years. Some 76% of the total goes to developing countries. It amounts to three times as much as the total volume of public-sector development aid. These funds are used to meet daily needs, to cover education and healthcare costs, and also to set up private-sector companies. Where capital can be transferred securely and at low cost, and where a portion of this money is invested in longer-term projects, the result can be economic growth, job creation and a reduction in emigration in young and/or well-qualified sections of the population.

Current Challenges
Despite the rising number of initiatives to include diaspora communities in development strategies, in many quarters there is still a need for more effective cooperation and coordination, or a sustainable concept. Some countries, such as Mali, Ghana and Morocco, already actively include diaspora in their development strategies. Other countries have only recently started their own initiatives, and in some cases lack the knowledge and the resources to put them into action successfully. Closer, constructive cooperation between the parties involved, while giving due consideration to the contribution that diaspora make to development, opens up new ways of benefiting from the opportunities and challenges of migration, and from the synergies between the parties involved in migration policy.

The SDC Focus

The SDC's Global Programme Migration and Development supports projects and initiatives that encourage the contributions that diaspora make to development in their home countries. It is committed to putting into place legal structures that provide the best possible environment for this resource to flourish. In doing so, it supports governments with implementing the relevant strategies and establishing the necessary frameworks. The SDC supports countries such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali and Syria in their efforts to win back those with vital expertise from communities abroad, and with financial incentives for investments and money transfers home. For example, it provided a Somali diaspora organization in Switzerland with the specialist knowledge needed to set up a transparent and cost-effective money transfer system.

Theme contact:Lorenza Rossi

Additional Information and Documents