Conference Background
The International Conference on the Future Agenda of Action for Global Diaspora Engagement is to bring together the supporters of the Dublin Declaration to glean insights from leading-edge practices in diaspora engagement. Additionally, the conference seeks to inaugurate the Global Diaspora Policy Alliance. This alliance is envisioned as a pivotal foundation for crafting the future roadmap of global diaspora engagement initiatives.
Panel Introduction
The interlinkages between diaspora communities and the private sector represent a growing opportunity to fund, expand, and scale diaspora-led initiatives in sustainable development, humanitarianism, and peacebuilding. Diaspora engagement harnesses the vast potential of a globally dispersed population, leveraging their unique insights, skills, and connections to foster innovation and growth. Meanwhile, private sector alliances bring together the expertise and resources of businesses to address pressing challenges and unlock new opportunities. Understanding the synergies between these dynamic forces is essential, as their combined efforts can lead to transformative outcomes for countries of origin, countries of destination, and the global community at large.
When envisioning partnerships in the private sector connected to diaspora engagement, it is important to distinguish between two perspectives: members of the diaspora actively engaging in the private sector and private sector stakeholders interested in supporting diaspora initiatives. By clarifying these roles, stakeholders can better coordinate their efforts to achieve meaningful and sustainable impacts.
In this session, we will further discuss the role of diasporas in the private sector, the impact of embracing economic development and market expansion and the unique positionality of diasporas. We will explore leveraging the connections between social integration and corporate responsibility and shed light on the real impact of empowering individuals and communities through network building.
Panel Objectives
This session will highlight the pivotal role of diaspora communities and their nexus with the private sector. Panelists will explore innovative approaches and best practices employed by both members of diasporas and private sector actors to create fruitful alliances that are crucial in catalyzing economic development, market expansion, and fostering innovation.
Key objectives include:
- Highlight the added value of collaboration between diaspora communities and the private sector, and how their combined efforts can lead to transformative outcomes in sustainable development, humanitarianism, and peacebuilding.
- Examine innovative strategies and best practices employed by diaspora entrepreneurs and private sector actors to address economic development, market expansion, and foster innovation.
- Discuss the impact of social integration and corporate responsibility, and how empowering individuals and communities through network building can drive innovation and growth in both countries of origin and destination.
- Explore how to ensure that governments, the private sector, and other stakeholders address the root challenges to building fruitful alliances between diaspora communities and the private sector in both countries of origin and destination.
Guiding Questions
- What are the mutual benefits of collaboration between diaspora communities and the private sector? What are the key factors that enable these synergies to lead to transformative outcomes for sustainable development, humanitarianism, and peacebuilding both in countries of origin and destination?
- What are some of the most effective innovative strategies and best practices that diaspora entrepreneurs and private sector actors have employed to catalyze economic development, market expansion, and foster innovation? Can you provide specific examples or case studies?
- In what ways can social integration and corporate responsibility empower individuals and communities through network building? How have these efforts driven innovation and growth in both countries of origin and destination? Can you share examples of successful initiatives?
- What are the root challenges faced when building alliances between the private sector and diaspora communities in both countries of origin and destination? How can governments help to tackle such obstacles?
- How do banks, enterprises, corporations, and foundations contribute to the ecosystem by providing private sector funding and engaging diaspora actors as direct investors and allies across various industries? Can you discuss specific examples where this engagement has led to job creation, economic empowerment, and social cohesion in both communities of origin and destination?
Session Structure
The session will open with a scene setting from the moderator to provide an overview of the session topic, issues to be addressed, expected outcomes, and key stakeholders involved. The moderator will then introduce each of the panelists and invite them to address the guiding questions. The panelists will take turns sharing their knowledge and experience on both good practices and lessons learnt, providing concrete recommendations for different stakeholder groups.
After hearing from the panelists, the floor will open for discussion and online/in-person participants will be invited to intervene with questions and/or comments. The outcomes resulting from the panel discussion and participants' contributions will be documented in a final report of the event, providing valuable insights that will inform the implementation of the Global Diaspora Policy Alliance.
The Session will have the following time allocation: The moderator will pose questions, share their own views and best practices, and each speaker will have 4 minutes to share their insights and knowledge.
Moderator & speakers
Moderator 1 - Dr. Larisa Lara-Guerrero
Dr. Larisa Lara-Guerrero is the Diaspora Engagement Officer at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) headquarters. Her research focuses on emigration policies, the impact of diasporas on conflict and development, and political transnationalism. She has co-developed over 20 global resources on diaspora engagement for the IOM and has led capacity-building initiatives, training officials from 26 governments and numerous diaspora members. Additionally, she co-organized the Global Diaspora Summit and spearheaded various strategic campaigns, including groundbreaking initiatives with the UN SDG Young Leaders. Dr. Lara-Guerrero also positioned the iDiaspora platform as an SDG best practice and secured its acceptance into the prestigious UN Global Pulse Scale Accelerator Programme.
As a global expert, Dr. Lara-Guerrero has published multiple academic papers and presented at international forums such as IMISCOE and LASA. In 2024, Dr. Lara-Guerrero was nominated by the Government of Mexico for the UNESCO Juan Bosch Prize for the Promotion of Social Science Research in Latin America and the Caribbean. She holds an MA from the University of Oxford, an MSc from King's College, and a PhD from the Universities of Paris and Liège. Additionally, Larisa is proficient in Spanish, French, English, and Italian.
Moderator 2 - Roberto Gil Cancel Comas
Roberto Gil Cancel Comas has been working with migrants and members of various diaspora groups for over a decade with a focus on civil participation and migration and development; a diverse experience spanning from East Asia to Europe and North Africa to the Americas. Before taking up responsibilities in the Regional Office for the Americas, he covered the Middle East and North Africa (2017-2019) from IOM’s Regional Office in Cairo after arriving to the region as Head of Project Coordination in IOM’s country office in Egypt (2014-2017). Prior to this he served as project manager in the field of diaspora engagement at IOM Kosovo (2012-2014) as well as Head of Project Development (2010-2012). This work built on his work with Latin American migrant communities in Belgium on how they contribute to their countries of origin through the NGO Service d'Information et de Formation Amérique Latine (2009-2010). That in turn wasinformed by his engagement with Latin American migrants in the US to promote their participation in the civil and political sphere of their new home country under the auspices of the National Council of La Raza (2008-2009).
Mr Cancel has a master’s degree from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Cultures and Development Studies where his thesis focused on migration and development, as well as a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs and Anthropology from the Florida State University. In addition, he is a practised project development and implementation trainer with experience also in workshop facilitation and strategic planning.
As a migrant and part of the Puerto Rican diaspora, Mr Cancel plans to continue his work strengthening the positive link between migration and development by empowering migrants to be actors for social change and economic growth.
Panelist 1 - Irina Andrianina Randrianarivelo
Irina was one of the young volunteers in our Loharano I pilot project, implemented by IOM Madagascar and funded by IOMDF, which aimed to mobilise young people from the Malagasy diaspora to contribute to local development in their home country.
During her volunteering period with IOM, she worked in the education sector in a small village called Manjakandriana, where she taught English to young rural students and helped 4 local associations with business development and entrepreneurship. She has encouraged cultural exchanges with the local population with the aim of breaking down barriers between the Malagasy diaspora and local Malagasy people.
Panelist 2 - Professor Gibril Faal
Professor Gibril Faal is a multi-disciplinary business and development executive. He is the co-founder and director of GK Partners specialising in socially responsible business models, sustainable development and programme implementation. He is a visiting professor in practice at the London School of Economics (LSE), Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa (FLIA). He is also a council member of Carnegie African Diaspora Program and
Lead Consultant to the African Union Commission on innovative, development and diaspora finance. In the early 2000s, he was one of the small team of experts that worked on a Department of Trade and Industry project to develop UK’s social enterprise business support, legal and financing structures. In 2003, he founded RemitAid™ as a mechanism to transform remittances into a sustainable form of development finance. In 2017, he initiated the Migration and Sustainable Development in The Gambia project (MSDG) in partnership with the governments of Switzerland and The Gambia.
In the past 25 years, he has been appointed to various strategic, development and management boards and panels across the world. In the UK, he has been appointed to several public function roles by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary of State for International Development, Home Secretary, and the Lord Chancellor. In 2014, Prof. Faal was appointed OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to international development.
Panelist 3 – Dr. Martin Russell
Martin completed his PhD at the Clinton Institute (UCD) and is the founder of Global Diaspora Insights (GDI). He is an advisor at The Networking Institute, serves on the Board of Directors of Ireland Reaching Out, and is a member of the Transition Assistance Practice Group at the Institute for Integrated Transitions. He was previously a visiting fellow at UNU-MERIT.
Through his work with GDI and their partners, Martin has contributed to diaspora engagement in over 50 countries for a variety of public, private, and third sector clients. His areas of expertise cut across diaspora engagement including diaspora diplomacy, diaspora networking, diaspora philanthropy/fundraising, and diaspora policy. He has a diverse publication record on diaspora engagement, including several diaspora policies, strategies, and action plans. Finally, he has served on advisory committees to deliver numerous flagship global convenings on diaspora over the past decades including the Global Diaspora Summit held in his home country of Ireland in 2022.
Panelist 4 - Daniela Villacres
Daniela Villacres leads a team at USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance which focuses on expanding opportunities and programming to engage diaspora communities and other civic actors for humanitarian assistance and disaster risk reduction. Prior to joining USAID, Daniela worked on these topics as an independent consultant with a myriad of clients in different geographic contexts. For example, she provided technical assistance to foreign governments on policies and interventions to reduce the cost of sending remittances, as well as to mainstream diaspora engagement into development planning across multiple sectors ranging from climate-induced displacement to financial literacy. Moreover, Daniela has collaborated extensively with diverse diaspora groups, leading capacity training workshops to maximize diaspora’s impact for community development. She has also published on varied migration topics, including the dynamics between remittances and good governance and human trafficking threats in post-disaster contexts. Daniela holds a BA from Emory University, an MPhil from the University of Oxford, and a PhD from Brown University.
