Dear Leaders and Supporters of Diaspora Organizations,

We hope you are keeping very well.

You may recall we have organized two very successful meetings from the Humanitarian Forum Meetings on Ukraine Response on 26th March and 9th April. We are very pleased to update that the important recommendations we gathered from over 50 Diaspora Organizations were shared with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and we are currently going through discussions on these recommendations on the possible ways forward.

Meanwhile, we are pleased to share with you our next phase of humanitarian work. GDC is further taking the lead in developing the Global Diaspora Humanitarian Hub for Diaspora Organizations. The Hub, proposed at our first Global Diaspora Week 2021 and again with the strong support of IOM, now begins its initial phase of conceptualizing its foundation. With the aim to enable, engage and empower diaspora organizations to effectively provide humanitarian assistance to their communities in need before, during, and after crisis; we wish to listen to your thoughts and ideas.

Hence, we would like to invite all Diaspora Organization leaders and supporters with and without experience in providing humanitarian assistance to join our consultation meeting on 30th July at 1 pm (UTC).

This meeting will enable us to build on the progress GDC has made this year and on IOM’s Global Framework for Strengthening Diaspora Engagement in Humanitarian Assistance project in 2021. The outcomes of the meeting will be used to map out the functions and identify gaps for Diaspora Organizations, ultimately creating the Humanitarian Hub’s global approach for DOs.

Our Hub Consultation Meeting Theme: Exploring the Foundations of a Humanitarian Hub: Consultation to discuss the possible functions and added value of a diaspora humanitarian platform.

To increase the openness of our discussion, the meeting will be again conducted under the Chatham House rule

During the Consultation Meeting, we will be:

• Discussing Diaspora Organisations’ previous experiences and identified challenges and opportunities during interventions in humanitarian assistance.

• Discussing the Global Diaspora Engagement Framework in humanitarian assistance and the role of Diaspora Organisations.

• Consulting with Diaspora Organisations on their pertinent needs before, during, and after crises in humanitarian response and assistance.
• Consulting with Diaspora Organisations on functions, target audience, structure, priority mechanisms, and thematic areas for the hub expected to address the needs of Diaspora Organisations.

Diaspora Organisations (DOs) have been the first responders in difficult times for people in need. Through a series of consultations, GDC aims to explore the functions of the Humanitarian Hub in consultation with the DOs and the role the Hub might play in strengthening communications and increasing coordination and cooperation in Humanitarian responses.

The outcome of this consultation meeting will contribute to the structuring and development process of the Humanitarian Hub. Updates will be provided in future consultation meetings and GDC will continue to engage Diaspora Organizations and key Humanitarian Actors who are the main stakeholders of the whole process.

Date: 30 July, 2022
Time: 1pm - 3pm UTC
Meeting on Zoom
Please follow the link to sign up for our consultation meeting on Eventbrite: https://bit.ly/3uz1w1k

We look forward to welcoming and learning from you at our meeting this month: keep well and stay safe.

Best wishes,

Peter Kwok

Chair, Global Diaspora Confederation