Our Strategic Focus

African diaspora can transform Africa at Link Africa Diaspora Initiative (LADI), we believe that,  if national governments summon the political will to address Africa’s development challenges, the African diaspora can be empowered to harness their contributions towards transforming Africa’s socioeconomic prospects. What is the definition of African diaspora? What are the fundamental drivers of international migration? What are Africa’s development challenges? How can the African diaspora contribute to development?

We define Africa as comprising the 55 Member States of the African Union (AU). The AU defines the African Diaspora as “Consisting of people of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent  and the building of the African Union”.

What are the fundamental drivers of international migration? The drivers of international migration include:

  • Demographic and income asymmetries

  • High youth unemployment

  • Fear of ethno-religious conflict

  • Transnational social networks

  • Migration policies in home and host countries

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What are Africa’s development challenges? Africa has a record of mixed performance. While a few countries have posted impressive performance on global economic and governance rankings, many countries are still lagging behind. Africa’s development challenges include:

  • Lack of visionary and transparent leadership

  • Pervasive corruption 

  • Over dependence on primary export commodities

  • Extreme poverty and high youth unemployment

  • Large infrastructure deficit

  • Unfavourable business environment

  • Lack of private sector access to finance

How African diaspora contribute to development?

How can the African diaspora contribute to development? Personal remittances are the most visible contribution to development. The World Bank estimates that, in 2018, 36 million international migrants born in Africa sent back home formal remittance inflows valued at $77 billion. In recent years, remittances have become Africa’s greatest source of external finance. In comparison with remittances, overseas development assistance (ODA) was %52.1 billion while foreign direct investment (FDI) was $36.9 billion. It should be noted that the cost of sending money to Africa averaged 9.3 percent in the first quarter of 2019, which is greater than the cost of sending to other regions of the world and triple the sustainable development goal (SDG) target of 3 percent by 2030. Beyond personal remittances, diaspora contributions include collective remittances through hometown associations (HTAs), diaspora investment, skills and knowledge transfer, diaspora philanthropy, and political influence.

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