Countries in South America have a long history of engagement with their nationals abroad. This repository seeks to compile and categorize some of the most promising practices developed during this history to facilitate exchange and cooperation among actors in the region. Regional cooperation in South America in this sense has great potential given that South American transnational communities share many linguistic and historical commonalities and in some destination countries they organize themselves and work not only with their compatriots but also with the broader Latin American community. With more than 40 examples of practices organized by the type of contribution the practice facilitated and by the country in which it was developed, it is hoped that this document will be a tool to inspire governments, civil society, and other relevant actors to take the initiative to empower their diasporas as full participants in the development of their countries and communities of origin.

The Diaspora Team at IOM Headquarters is pleased to present the third edition of the Global Diaspora Newsletter.

We are particularly excited about the 2023 Global Diaspora Virtual Exchanges, which have been a space for engagement with diaspora members, diaspora organizations and diaspora leaders. Thank you for joining the conversation.

This issue has a regional focus on Southern Africa. Readers will find an article from IOM Pretoria on its diaspora engagement agenda and activities, as well as news from IOM Mauritius and Seychelles.

The newsletter also includes a spotlight on a diaspora organization. The third organization featured is Genesis Entrepreneurship
Trust - GET, a diaspora organization established in 2016 to equip youth in Zimbabwe with entrepreneurial skills. GET was founded by diaspora leader Dr. Jessica Hamadziripi.

Diasporas bring invaluable economic, cultural, human and social capital to societies. Governments, organizations and partners around the world have recognized their potential as development actors in a wide range of initiatives. This newsletter aims to highlight key diaspora stories, successes, events, resources and more that are relevant to both diasporas and their supporters.

The Mapping the Rwandan Diaspora in Canada report is the result of an extensive mapping exercise conducted in Canada between November 2021 and February 2022. The purpose of this report is to capture and highlight the insights and input from the 433 Rwandan - Canadian diaspora members who responded to the community survey and/or who participated in interviews and focus group discussions.

This report provides a sample of the Rwandan community’s socioeconomic profile, professional skills, and expertise, as well as their aggregate capacity, interests, and motivation to support development initiatives in Rwanda. It concludes with a list of recommendations focused on ways to enhance engagement with the Rwandan diaspora in Canada through government-led initiatives.

The success of this mapping exercise is attributed to the Rwandan community’s strong interest and engagement in this mapping exercise. This report was developed in coordination with members of the Rwanda High Commission in Canada (RHCC), IOM Rwanda, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and the Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MINAFFET).

A joint training package geared towards diaspora professionals in order to increase technical knowledge and capacities on safer shelter and settlements has been co-developed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Habitat for Humanity, and the Global Shelter Cluster.

It is the result of numerous consultations, inputs and feedback from shelter and humanitarian experts. It comprises a series of modules broken down into thematic areas and each module contains accompanying documentation including finished PowerPoint presentations, briefing documents and testing materials, all guided by this overarching Facilitator's Guide (Training Manual) that explains in detail every step needed to successfully teach or lead the training.

Use this link to access the entire free training package and begin using it today.

This report analyses the role of the East African Community (EAC) Protocol on the Establishment of the East African Community Common Market (CMP) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Protocol on Free Movement of Persons in the IGAD Region (FMP) in facilitating labour mobility in the East and Horn of Africa (EHoA) region. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the legal and policy context of protecting the rights of migrant workers in the EHoA region, focusing on the EAC CMP and IGAD FMP and national labour provisions of the case study countries, namely Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. It also discusses the opportunities and challenges of overlapping memberships for the implementation of the IGAD FMP and acceleration of the EAC CMP in relation to labour mobility and migrant workers’ rights based on the experiences of Kenya and Uganda. It also explores the impact of overlapping memberships and COVID-19 on labour mobility while taking into account gender considerations.

This Migration Governance Indicators (MGIs) profile presents a summary of well-developed areas of migration governance in Suriname as well as areas with potential for further development, as assessed through the MGI process. The MGIs are a standard set of almost 100 indicators to help countries assess the comprehensiveness of their migration governance structures. 

The incorporation of Sustainable Development Goal target 10.7 into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development created the need to define “planned and well-managed migration policies”. In 2015, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) developed the Migration Governance Framework (MiGOF). The Framework offers a concise view of an ideal approach that allows a State to determine what it might need to govern migration well and in a way that suits its circumstances.  

In an effort to operationalize the MiGOF, IOM worked with Economist Impact to develop the MGIs. 

The MGIs aim to help governments, upon request, take stock of their migration policies and strategies to identify good practices and areas with potential for further development. 

The MGIs open dialogues with governments and other relevant stakeholders to identify priorities on the way forward. With a focus on government ownership of the process, the MGIs offer support at the national and local levels to gradually improve migration management systems. 

The Data for Good unit at Meta and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) partnered to develop, launch and analyze a pair of online campaigns to raise awareness about the impact of recurring natural disasters in the Philippines in Filipino American communities. The campaigns ultimately reached over 10 million people and demonstrated the efficacy of digital outreach for engaging communities in disaster recovery efforts and transferring knowledge of safe shelter messaging.