Towards Common Definition and Measurement of Diaspora Practices

Towards Common Definition and Measurement of Diaspora: Practices and Lessons from South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia UNECE/Eurostat Work Session on Migration Statistics 19 October 2012 Geneva

Outline 1. Know your diaspora – role of evidence in diaspora engagement 2. Diaspora definition in SEEECA 3. Diaspora measurement in SEEECA 4. Conclusions and recommendations 2

1. KNOW YOUR DIASPORA 3

1. Know your diaspora • Diaspora engagement and mobilization – high on agendas • 2 nd Stage of IOM-MPI Diaspora Engagement Roadmap Handbook • No common definition – no agreement on best ways to estimate/describe diasporas 4

1. Know your diaspora – policy needs Have a common definition – to enable crosscountry dialogue and elaboration of common approaches Identify key priority destination countries via largest diaspora stocks Describe diaspora stocks in terms of characteristics to make policies and programmes more targeted and geared towards diaspora needs 5

1. Know your diaspora – rapid assessment in SEEECA • Rapid Assessment: – 14 countries out of 20 in the region – Special questionnaire plus desktop research of laws, policies and statistical office web-sites (methodologies) • MANY THANKS for – IOM colleagues, facilitating the assessment – State and non-state partners who filled in the questionnaire and provided clarifications 6

1. Know your diaspora – global context (definitions) • Internationally used criteria: • Place of residence established in a country different from the country of origin on a longer-term basis • Remaining ties with the country of origin 7

1. Know your diaspora – global context (definitions) (Former) citizenship Country of birth Ethnicity “Remaining ties” Country of parents’ birth Former residence Parents’ citizenship 8

1. Know your diaspora global context (measurement) • Emigrant stock as a proxi for diaspora stock • Pilot diaspora surveys to describe diaspora characteristics 9

2. DIASPORA DEFINITION IN SEEECA 10

2. Diaspora definition in SEEECA – three key groups of terms 3 categories of terms used: Diaspora Emigrants Other special groups residing abroad* * Persons residing abroad, compatriots and ethnic groups returning back 11

2. Diaspora definition in SEEECA – law and policy framework Diaspora • Working definition • 4 countries with laws/policies Emigrants • Statistical definition • 4 countries with laws Special terms • 11 countries of population residing abroad • 9 laws and 2 policy concepts 12

2. Diaspora definition in SEEECA – statistical criteria Diaspora • Citizenship • Place of residence • Ethnicity • Generation Emigrants • Change of residence • Citizenship Other population groups • Citizenship • Place of residence • Ethnicity 13

2. Diaspora definition in SEEECA – possible common framework 14

3. DIASPORA MEASUREMENT IN SEEECA 15

3. Diaspora measurement in SEEECA – stocks and characteristics • Diaspora stocks via – Emigration data of destination countries – Consular authorities data – Diaspora own estimations • Characteristics – Specialized surveys 16

3. Diaspora measurement in SEEECA – surveys • Piloted surveys – – – B&H, 2011 Serbia, 2010 Moldova, 2012 Tajikistan, 2012 Georgia (forthcoming) • Methods – On-line surveys – Structured personal interviews – Focus group discussions 17

4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 18

4. Conclusions and recommendations • Concerning diaspora definition: – Need to differentiate among three terms (diaspora, emigrants and other categories) – Need to develop a common understanding at national level – Recognized need for an internationally agreed definition 19

4. Conclusions and recommendations • Concerning diaspora measurement – Need for two types of data – on diaspora stocks and diaspora characteristics – Limitations of using emigrant stock as a proxy for diaspora stocks – need to develop a combined method – Need to refine specialized survey methodology to enable extraction of compatible data 20

Thank you very much for your attention! Questions/comments? mmanke@iom. int 21