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What's happening with the
Global Development Alliance
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USAID's Global
Development Alliances
Click on a country to learn more about USAID's public-private partnership activities.
View detailed instructions on how to use the GoogleEarth map of USAID partnerships.
Note: You will need to install GoogleEarth to view the map.
Reference in these materials to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for the information purposes only and should not be construed as an endorsement, recommendation, or other such agreement between USAID and another party.
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Diaspora Engagement: Remittances & Beyond
Leveraging Migrant Resources for Effective Development
 Over the last 35 years, the number of worldwide international migrants has almost doubled, from 76 million to 150 million. As migration increased, flows in the form of personal and collective remittances, investments, information and knowledge, tourism and trade have continued to grow at unprecedented rates. Today, remittances are the second-largest source of financial resources to developing countries just behind foreign direct investment (FDI). Of the $158 billion of U.S. total resources flows to the developing world in 2005, 26 percent came from remittances.
Although Diaspora community engagement with home countries is sizeable, the developmental potential for this group remains largely untapped. USAID recognizes that by not engaging with this community, we are missing out an opportunity to increase our development impact significantly.
Diaspora Networks Alliance
To leverage the vast resources of Diaspora communities, the Global Development Alliance is launching a flagship public-private alliance called the Diaspora Networks Alliance (DNA). DNA will work to intensify the flow of knowledge and resources of Diaspora to their home countries to promote economic and social growth.
Remittances
Under the DNA framework, USAID and its resource partners will engage in programmatic activities designed to amplify the development impact of remittances. These activities will work to:
- Encourage traditional money transfer organizations and banks to develop and market their services to remittance clients and/or promote linkages with microfinance institutions to deepen outreach.
- Develop regional and domestic payment systems to meet the needs of migrants and their families and facilitate international transfers.
- Support pilot programs that link remittances to financial products (housing loans, health insurance, consumer loans, student loans, education funds, pension plans, enterprise loans, indigenous rotating saving schemes, etc.).
- Explore technological innovations (such as mobile-banking) that could reduce transaction costs, increase security, and provide remittance clients with a range of convenient services.
 Diaspora Engagement
Beyond remittances, USAID and its DNA partners will seek to focus on creative mechanisms through which migrants can contribute to growth in their homelands. The Agency has identified six strategic Diaspora engagement mechanisms:
Diaspora Philanthropy: Also referred to as "collective remittances", this concept is based upon strong personal, cultural, and community ties and offers unique promise for migrants to become directly engaged in development of their home communities. These partnerships have emerged to leverage the collective donations that migrant associations send to their home countries to finance community development projects. An example of a successful alliance is Mexico's "4-por-1" program, which brings together home town associations, local and federal governments, and Western Union to fund development projects in communities with high levels of "out" migration.
Diaspora Volunteer Corps: These organizations offer opportunities to Diaspora community members to return to their home countries to perform short or long-term public service, bringing specialized knowledge to the tasks of economic and social development. USAID has already assisted such efforts in Sudan and Iraq, helping to bring both technical and local knowledge to its development efforts. Other notable examples in Diaspora volunteerism are the Armenian Volunteer Corps and IndiCorps.
Diaspora Direct Investment (DDI): Currently, most research and focus on Diaspora involvement in their home countries' development has been limited to family remittances. One area that academics, development practitioners, and policymakers have neglected to explore is the role the Diaspora can play in gearing foreign direct investments toward their home countries. Standing at the intersection between the Diaspora, remittances and FDI, Diaspora Direct Investment ("DDI") offers immense possibilities given the willingness, motivations and resiliency of the Diaspora in investing in risky markets.
Diaspora Capital Markets: Diasporas can also provide much needed capital to home economies through various capital market instruments. These include hard currency bank accounts, certificates of deposit, equity and debt funds, bonds, securitization of remittances, and etc. Notable examples of Diaspora capital market instruments are Diaspora bonds and remittance-backed securities. These instruments are issued either by a country or local financial institutions to raise debt capital to finance development projects.
Diaspora Tourism & Nostalgic Trade: Developing countries receive over 300 million tourist visits a year. Diaspora makes up a large part of this group. Through tourism, besides stimulating the local economy while they're visiting, Diasporas support their home communities by buying nostalgic goods which typically are produced by micro- and small enterprises. Greater efforts can be made to promote Diaspora tourism and to develop the capacity of the makers of nostalgic goods through value chain work.
Diaspora Advocacy & Diplomacy: Increasingly Diaspora communities are inserting themselves into the policy dialogue of their home countries and are engaged in cultural and commercial diplomacy that in ways bridge understanding between their adopted and home countries. USAID, in collaboration with its DNA partners, can help to facilitate this important influence and lend weight to programs areas, such as conflict mitigation, democracy and governance, and knowledge management.
Partnerships for Change
The GDA is seeking out prospective partner organizations to form alliances to carry out activities in support of USAID's DNA initiative. DNA partners are expected to bring significant new resources, ideas, technologies, and/or partners to address development problems in countries where USAID is currently working. Partners could include a wide range of organizations such as: foundations, U.S. and non-U.S. non-governmental organizations (NGOs), U.S. and non-U.S. private businesses, international organizations, other U.S. Government agencies, civic groups, other donor governments, host country governments, and regional organizations.
For more information on DNA, contact:
Thomas Debass
202.712.5967
tdebass@usaid.gov
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