My Beauty Best Teacher

Odhiambo Ocholla of Suntra Investment Bank writes:

Kenya desperately needs development capital, and current inflows from remittances are fast becoming a source of financial resources.I propose that a Diaspora Development Bond be introduced with appropriate incentives to attract investment from our nationals in the Diaspora.Such a bond can be structured in such way that it does not compete with traditional remittances, as this would be an investment vehicle.
Diaspora development bonds are typically long-dated securities, which a country has to redeem only upon maturity. Thus, Diaspora bonds are a source of foreign financing that is long-term in nature.The Diaspora purchases of bonds issued by their country of origin are likely to be driven by a sense of patriotism and the desire to contribute to the development of the home country...[continue reading]

Africa Diaspora Investment writes "...The Africans in the Diaspora merit increasing attention they are a source of investment funding, expertise and a confidence building measure of great importance.Financial flows from the Diaspora on average contribute 5-10% of some African countries Gross Domestic Product and in a few cases over 20%. In a year alone it is estimated that the Diaspora invest over US$ 450 million, this excludes the estimated US$ 12 billion remittances sent by the Diaspora annually..."

From the Project Diaspora website:

We here by pledge to mobilize, engage, and motivate the African Diaspora to take an active role in Africa’s economic, social, and cultural revitalization. We believe the economic assistance and relief models provided by the World Bank, IMF and other monetary or relief organizations to Africa has spectacularly failed on it’s promises over the last 30 years.
We propose a new model. There are over 167 million Africans in the Diaspora. As of 2007, financial remittances by these Africans topped $40 billion annually. That’s capital that’s directly involved in the sustainability of lives—through the stimulation of education, finance, health, and social sectors. We believe this model is far more effective in changing the Africa’s economic landscape. The continued direct involvement of Africa’s Diaspora community is our solemn mission.

For the first time, Africa is also adding its rich history and collective voice to the human archive. No longer is Africa’s rich cultural heritage, development and identity championed and hijacked by those from outside and treated as a footnote to human history. Increasingly, Africa’s dispersed Diaspora are amassing a collective intelligence of their own; earning and editing their own Wikipedia entries...

Business Daily reports:

Kenya is to launch a diaspora bond to help it direct the increasing amount of remittances to development projects and act as a source of cheaper credit to the Government...The financial instrument to be developed will enable the Central Bank to use remittances as collateral for bond issues and loan securitisation.
...Dilip Ratha(covered earlier), senior economist responsible for migration and remittances at the World Bank told Business Daily that no African country has yet issued a diaspora bond, except Ghana which has recently announced a saving scheme that has elements of a diaspora bond.

For the first time, Africa is also adding its rich history and collective voice to the human archive. No longer is Africa’s rich cultural heritage, development and identity championed and hijacked by those from outside and treated as a footnote to human history. Increasingly, Africa’s dispersed Diaspora are amassing a collective intelligence of their own; earning and editing their own Wikipedia entries...

Commenting on the African Diaspora Wangari Maathai stated "...I commend the African diaspora for believing in small and medium-sized enterprises, which are key to enabling Africans to fulfil their aspirations for jobs and economic security. The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) reports that 90% of all businesses in Africa are small and medium-sized. We must support this sector and ensure that it thrives.The diaspora can ensure that this sector grows in the home countries. Africans in the diaspora are estimated to send back some $200 billion to Africa each year. This money assists both their families and the national economy. We need to encourage and sustain this interest and commitment. We need initiatives that are simple, attainable and able to generate visible success in a short time. This creates momentum, trust, excitement and goodwill around solutions that ordinary people themselves own and believe in..."

Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie writes "...Today the authority and legitimacy of public officials in Africa must be negotiated with a rich texture of regional, communal and social associations; rapid progress in communications technology is providing Africans with new opportunities for networking and enterprise; and, perhaps above all, increasing numbers of Africans in the diaspora are reconnecting to their home countries in imaginative new ways involving creative “peer-to-peer” development strategies.All these transformations are fuelling changes in the ways Africans nurture the relationships of accountability – embodying practices of obligation, respect, responsibility and mutuality – that underpin their connection to each other...With the rise and rise of remittance flows over the last few years, Africans in the diaspora are Africa’s biggest aid donors and investors. They are, in effect, Africa’s biggest taxpayers, hit by a double whammy. First, they contribute to the overseas aid budget through their tax contributions to their new home government. Second, they make direct contributions via their individual and collective remittances(PDF). The latter far outstrip the former in terms of absolute volumes...African governments are far more accountable and responsive to their bilateral and multilateral aid donors than they are to African taxpayers at home or abroad...Africans have developed fairly sophisticated strategies for avoiding a state that seems hell-bent on obstructing their lives. Income from informal economic activity and remittances; healthcare and education provided by modern-day missionaries (as well as many new Pentecostal churches and their charismatic pastors); law provided by sharia courts and imams; protection provided by vigilante groups and their magic potions. All this and more happens with little state involvement. Africans weave together the fabric of their lives far from the state’s purview..."
Via OpenDemocracy

Jacques Gaillard & Anne Marie Gaillard write in SciDev:

The diaspora model will never be a low cost, self-sufficient answer to Africa's scientific needs. Its effectiveness depends crucially on the internal dynamics of the home-based scientific communities. After all, a network of expatriates is at best an extension of a national scientific community, not a substitute. Efforts should therefore, first and foremost, focus on strengthening national scientific capacity particularly training and recruiting the next generation of scientists. If this is not done, the diaspora will only be a smart cloak hiding shabby clothes.

Alison Flood reports on the work of Olufemi Terry:

Olufemi Terry courtesy of BookphotoSA

One of the things Terry is trying to do with his writing, he said, is to explore the issues of the African diaspora. "Living in the diaspora, whether it's west or east, throws up a whole new set of challenges and questions which I don't feel have been properly explored or looked at," he said. "The label 'African writer' is not a particularly helpful one ... Whether it's journalism or fiction, there is too much emphasis put on issues such as poverty or disease, and I feel the label 'African writing' exacerbates that particular tendency. I would like to see more of a shift away from writing about Africa set on the continent, and more exploration of the issues of the diaspora."

FinancialNigeria reports:

Interfaced with the capacities and growth aspirations of Diaspora African businesses, some of the challenges faced by local entrepreneurs on the continent become opportunities for mutual benefits. A good number of Diaspora African entrepreneurs have distinguished themselves in their profession and industry. They have access to capital and are able to mobilize investible funds within and outside their community. They have integrated well with the international system, while they seek opportunities to further expand their businesses outside of their country of residence. In this connection, African is a vast market for them...While African governments continue to press for more favourable trade conditions perhaps when the Doha Round of negotiations resumes, a clear outcome of the process of engagements between African entrepreneurs at home and abroad can conduce to Africa moving out of the aid fixation. Leveraging on Diaspora network and capital, Africa economies can leapfrog on the crest of private sector-led growth.

Drake Bennett writes in the Boston Globe about the anxiety related to the diversionary Aid conversation:

Africa analysts say that they have a broader concern: that the all-consuming discussion of aid has obscured - and perhaps even impeded - the recent positive developments on the continent. According to development economists, multinational corporations routinely overestimate the risks of doing business in Africa. Investment is the fuel of a free- market economy, and yet fear may be depriving many African countries of opportunities.

Africa's diaspora has been quicker to spot the opportunities. For years, economists have credited the remittances that African expatriates send home as a major source of income for African countries. Now, analysts say, the more open political and economic climate has meant that expats are increasingly providing more valuable resources: their brainpower and enthusiasm.

"...The African Diaspora Archeology Network (ADAN) is a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort which provides a focal point for dialogues concerning archaeological and historical studies of African diasporas..."

Kenneth Okoth writing in Migration Information Source stated that:

The challenges facing Kenya are not unique. Countries like China, India, and South Africa have developed different approaches for tapping into the expertise and other resources of their diasporas to meet their development goals and achieve global competitiveness. These countries are leading the way in turning the despair of brain drain into brain exchange and brain gain in different ways. Hopefully, a robust private-public framework that can facilitate productive linkages between Kenyan academics, researchers, artists, and investors at home and in the diaspora will emerge to consolidate the political and economic changes taking place in Kenya, as has been the case elsewhere.

"...Pandiaspora encourages Nigerians in the Diaspora to volunteer their skills to work on short term medical mission projects and to consider returning home to contribute to longer term sustainable development...their mission is the principle of direct intervention - helping people and communities to attain better health and well-being and to support better education for vulnerable school-aged children. To achieve our mission, we work in support of existing health and educational infrastructure in Nigeria and mobilise the skills of Nigerian professionals in the Diaspora to bridge the health and educational needs of the people we serve... "