Donor Engagement of Diasporas: Public-Private Partnerships Towards Development Effectiveness?

Abstract

During the past decade, international development discourse has shifted from a narrow focus on aid effectiveness to one of cooperation towards more effective development. A series of High Level Forums have produced a set of principles to guide this new development framework. With the steady increase of international migration, sizeable diasporas who generate a diversity of activities with development implications in their homelands have formed outside of developing countries. Recognizing their importance and potential for development, several developed country bilateral donors have engaged these emerging development actors, including the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Analysis of their policies and programs reveals a set of emerging themes and lessons learned that identify the need to challenge conventional ways of thinking about the nature of development partnerships in order to move towards more effective development.