Strategies for Mobilizing the Diaspora Community in National

Strategies for Mobilizing the Diaspora Community in National Economic Development Talk presented at Town Hall Meeting of Nigerians in the Americas on November 20, 2004, Washington, DC; Sponsored by NIDO Americas and Nigerian Embassy by Dr. Ola Kassim, NIDO-A Chairman

Objectives of Town Hall Meeting n n Meet with a Diversity of Stakeholders: Engage the leadership of Nigerian organizations across the Americas Generate Input: Listen to your perspective and insights. Critical inputs from the Nigerian community to better define and address challenges and opportunities ahead are needed. Build Bridges: Work with various Nigerian organizations in the Americas to better organize the community and realize shared opportunities in home country, as well as host countries. Invite Others: Work to increase interest and participation, and build a critical mass of support among Nigerian professionals.

Forum Process n Introduction of Discussion Topic: Moderators frame topic, and open up interactive discussion among participants. n Discuss Challenges: Articulate and define challenges and issues related to forum topic. These represent opportunities for action. n Propose Actions and Prioritize Focus: How can WE respond to the challenges identified? What are the most practical solutions to address them? Which are the most important among these? n Identify Opportunities for Collaboration: What actions are YOU willing to commit to and champion with the Embassy, NIDO, and other Nigerians and Nigerian organizations?

Mission and Objectives of NIDO n Accelerate Knowledge and Skills Repatriation: Harness Diaspora skills and expertise for Nigeria’s development to turn “Brain Drain” into “Brain Gain” n Build “Info”structure for Skills Pipeline: Build and operate database of skilled Nigerians for benefit of public and private sectors in Nigeria n Strengthen Collectiveness: Mobilize vast support, and promote cooperation and networking among Nigerians in Diaspora n Promote Opportunities in Nigeria: Enhance image of Nigeria to strengthen business, travel, and investment opportunities

Strategies for Mobilizing the Diaspora Community in National Economic Development Definition of DIASPORA (G. Scheffer): n “Modern Diasporas are ethnic minority groups of migrant origins residing and acting in host countries but maintaining strong sentimental and material links with their countries of origin-their HOMELANDS. ” n n The term Diaspora comes from the Greek words “to sow” and “over”, as in the scattering of seed, and for them it meant the “seeding” of Greek colonies in distant lands. Diaspora implies a settled community, rather than a group of temporary immigrants with the intention and ability to return to their country of origin.

8 Major Impacts of Diaspora on Home Countries Identified n n n n Remittances Foreign Direct Investment Market Development (including outsourcing production) Technology Transfer Philanthropy Tourism Political Contributions Intangible Flows: ¨ ¨ ¨ Knowledge New attitudes Cultural Influence NB: The quality of information, much less data, about Diaspora influences in these dimensions is in general very poor, posing a serious challenge to policy development.

Generalizations about Diaspora are perilous given the variation in… n Historical Experience n Relations with Authorities in their Home Country n Levels of Prosperity and Education n Religious background and Ethnicity both within and among Diaspora Communities

Overview of Home Country Policies and Practices Toward Diaspora n Varying Attitudes: Warmly Embracing to Coolly instrumental ¨ Active Engagement to Indifference ¨ Mobilization to Hostility ¨ n n Increasing Courting Trend: The policies and practices of countries of origin reflect these diverse views, but the clear trend is for homeland states to court their nationals who are living abroad. Countries that actively court their Diasporas do so in a variety of ways and with different priorities: China, India, the Philippines, Mexico, Eritrea, Taiwan, Argentina and Ghana illustrate eight contrasting patterns.

China n Strong Diaspora, Most Economically Thriving: Today, overseas Chinese communities exist in virtually every country in the world at an estimated strength of 35 million people. n Focus on Diaspora Investments: The People’s Republic of China relies less on encouraging remittances from its Diaspora and focuses more on encouraging investments from her citizens who live abroad. Since the start of economic reform and adoption of capitalism, the boom in China’s economy has been led mainly by peoples of Chinese descent living in Hong Kong, Taiwan and its Diaspora from the Mainland. ¨ The volume of remittances into China is small in relation to the size of the Diaspora---$8 billion (1991 -98)—which is only 1/7 th the volume of remittance from India’s 20 million strong Diaspora. ¨ According to You-tien Hsing: “the campaign of attracting overseas ¨ Chinese capital escalated after the Tiananmen massacre in 1989, when many non-Chinese foreign firms led China. ”

China Other Key Highlights: n It is estimated that about half of the $48 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) that flowed into China in 2002 originated with the Chinese Diaspora. n Ethnic Chinese also have an impact on the volume of bilateral trade between the PRC and their countries of settlement. n Chief motive for Diaspora investment in China: PROFIT

India n Embracing an “Open-Door” Policy: India has moved from a position of somewhat disapproving indifference toward the worldwide Indian Diaspora to one of actively seeking their involvement in the nation’s development. n Resurgent India Bonds (1998): Launch of a huge sale of 5 year bonds guaranteed by the State Bank of India and available only to non-resident Indians (NRIs) immediately after the India’s first nuclear tests. The aim of the bond which was launched with ‘patriotic fervor’ was to help offset the impact of economic sanctions imposed immediately after the nuclear tests. ¨ The bonds were set at 2% above the US bond market rates! ¨

India n Diaspora Identification Initiative September 2000: High Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora was tasked with the responsibility of analyzing the location, situation and potential development role of the estimated 20 million non-resident Indians (NRIs) and Peoples of Indian Origin (PIOs). ¨ The report was released with fanfare in January 2002 with one key recommendation: “a new framework for creating a more conducive environment in India to leverage these invaluable human resources. ” ¨ The analysis reflected in the Report looks at the question why FDI from the Indian Diaspora have been low relative to the Chinese. The 20 million Indians abroad generate an annual income equal to 35% of India’s GDP, yet have generated less than 10% of India’s rather modest $4. 4 billion of FDI in contrast to the Chinese who have contributed half of China’s $52 billion. ¨

Mexico n n Top Remittances Destination: Mexico is the second largest recipient of remittances in the world. Mexico’s Diaspora is unusual in that it is heavily concentrated in one country, the United States. Enhancing Homecoming: Launch of Paisano Program and the Program for Mexican Communities Living abroad (PCMLA) in 1990— focusing on improving the treatment of returning migrants at the hands of Mexican border and customs officials and on improving services to Mexicans in the United States. ¨ The PCMLA also helps channel remittances to local development projects in Mexico

Mexico n Supportive Government: In 2000, President Vincente Fox referred to Mexican migrants as HEROES and in 2001 established a Presidential Office for Mexicans Abroad; n Innovative Action Initiatives: 2002: Launch of 3 for 1 program. Every dollar remitted by Mexican Home Town Associations (HTAs) is matched with one dollar from the federal government, one dollar from the state government and one dollar from the local government, thus providing considerable leverage to Diaspora fund raising efforts. Strong Outcomes: Mexico’s Diaspora’s relations have been developed from the bottom up with individual migrants continuing to support their families with the world’s second largest stream of remittances. The volume of individual remittances still dwarfs by a large measure the remittances from collective efforts of the HTAs. n

Taiwan n Leveraging Skills and Knowledge Capital to Address Skills Gap: Taiwan has focused less on attracting investment from its Diaspora than on making use of their skills acquired abroad through networking and through migration. n Strong Government Commitment: Examples of this commitment include: ¨ The government established a database that tracked skilled migrants and matched them with job opportunities in Taiwan ¨ The government systematically invited scientists, professionals and highly skilled technicians back to Taiwan to teach and to network with Taiwanese counterparts. ¨ Government-sponsored national development conferences bring many overseas Taiwanese to participate at government expense and contribute to the formation of multinational networks oriented toward building Taiwan’s business and technological advantages.

Philippines n n Leading the World in Remittances: The Philippines is the number one per capita recipient of Diaspora remittances in the world. Approximately 17% of Philippine families receive remittances from abroad. Human Capital as Export Commodity: The government of the Philippines has institutionalized the training of skilled and semiskilled workers such as nurses, physicians, nannies specifically aimed for export to different regions of the world.

Argentina n Towards a Knowledge Economy: The government of Argentina has focused largely at mobilizing its highly skilled Diaspora towards the development of a Knowledge Economy in its efforts to diversify its resource intensive mainly agrarian economy. n Recent Survey Aimed at Assessing Opportunities: In 2003, the government sponsored a poll of 200 Argentinean professional Diaspora with a view to answering the following questions: ¨ ¨ ¨ What lessons can one learn from other Diaspora's experiences? Is it possible to utilize the Argentinean professional Diaspora as a key resource to develop knowledge based economy in Argentina? What are the conditions for that to happen? How interested is the Argentinean Diaspora in playing an active role? What is its potential? What are the main problems for the Argentinean Diaspora?

Developments in Africa n n Eritrea. The government of Eritrea has been encouraging its Diaspora to increase remittances back to the homeland. However recent steps by the government enforcing direct investment of a proportion of remittances are viewed with suspicion by its Diaspora. GHANA. In 2002: Conference of Diaspora based Organizations (DBOs) held in Accra aimed at organizing and mobilizing the economic might of the Ghanaian Diaspora.

TRANSNATIONAL NETWORKS OF EXPATRIATE PROFESSIONALS n Virtual Global Network: A number of schemes and types of transnational networks of expatriate professionals have emerged that can be tapped to enable their effective and productive role in a home country’s development—even without any physical temporary or permanent return. n Illustration: The United Nations Development Program supports major initiative in this field called TOKTEN (Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals). ¨ n Country Specific TOKTENS involve databases of people and assisted visits of skilled expatriates to engage in various development projects in their countries of origin. TOKTEN---A Possible Opportunity for NIDO Americas?

Clearly, Broad Forum Topic with Many Possible Areas to Explore… n Best Practices ¨ China, Israel, India and their Diasporas…What can Nigeria and Diaspora Nigerians learn from them? n n n Partnerships Database Resource Pooling Business/Policy Climate in Nigeria Others

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