For its annual African Diaspora & Development Day (AD3), the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD), in partnership with Chatham House, is hosting an event on 5 July 2013 entitled ‘International Policy on Remittances, Migration, Development: What Role for the Diaspora?’
This event, organised by AFFORD as part of the Comic Relief funded Africa-UK Programme, will explore the role of the diaspora and remittances in relation to international policies on migration and development, and aims to raise awareness of why policy processes such as the UN High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development (UNHLDIMD) and the Millennium Development Goals matter for the diaspora – African, Asian, and Latin American – and for development.
The importance of diaspora contributions to development, especially in terms of remittances, is increasingly recognised by development policy-makers, practitioners, and academics. However, this debate has traditionally focused on the value and social impact of remittances, without necessarily considering the international policy environment in relation to these and migration and development.
The UN High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development (UNHLDIMD), to be held in October this year, will bring these issues to the fore, as UN Member States come together – for the second time in the history of the General Assembly – to debate international migration and development. This takes place at a critical time when the international community is renegotiating the global development framework, and is likely to consider important issues, including what could the governance of international migration look like in the future? How can remittances and other diaspora contributions to development best be formalised within this policy environment? Will Member States come to a consensus outcome or will they remain split along North-South, origin-destination lines, as in the past? What place, if any, will migration and remittances have in a future development agenda?
Invited speakers include Justine Greening, Secretary of State for International Development; Mtuli Ncube, Chief Economist at the African Development Bank; Clarissa Azkoul, UK Chief of Mission to the IOM; Cecile Riallant, Head of Programme Management Unit at the EC-UN Joint Migration and Development Initiative (JMDI); Jehangir Malik, Director of Islamic Relief UK; and Gibril Faal, Chair of AFFORD.
To register for this free event, please contact Tighisti Amare, Africa Programme Coordinator at Chatham House: tamare@chathamhouse.org.
From
Africa-UK
AD3 is an annual event organised by AFFORD.
