Konferenzbericht (PDF-Dokument, 3 MB) - SID

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pora thus constitutes an invisible welfare system in
many African countries, especially for rural areas. Unlike
normal foreign direct investment, more money goes in
from the Diaspora during periods of crisis to support
relatives.
The Diaspora has been very successful in leveraging
our access in Africa productively, leading to the devel-
opment of innovative policies and programmes such as
AFFORD SEEDA programme (see below). Different
organisations have emerged, with different focus areas
(health, education, sup-porting entrepreneurship, etc)
but all with the same agenda – how we can harness the
skills of Africans in the Diaspora (remittances, „brain
circulation‟, investment, etc) for African development.
Oneykachi Wambu
These organisations are able to be effective because of
the direct communication and feedback loop that they
have with the grassroots in Africa. Diaspora organisa-
tions thus an immediate picture of what is happening on
the ground in Africa and are able to respond to those
needs.
Diaspora input into Development Policy
The direct communication and feedback loop from the
grassroots in Africa that the Diaspora benefits from has
led Diaspora organisations to challenge the current Post
„Band-Aid‟ development paradigm. Their criticism of the
Post „Band-Aid‟ development paradigm is that it:
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knowledge migrates
- Ignored important African stakeholders (both in and
outside Africa)
- Many of its initiatives bred dependency
- Ignored problems caused by lack of joined-up-policy
across government departments
- Ignored Africans‟ views and perspectives. For exam-
ple, „Make Poverty History‟ in 2005 demanded £50
billion extra for debt relief, extra aid and trade reform
but made no mention of jobs – the number one issue
for Africans!
Furthermore the UN Economic Commission for Africa
has said that Sub-Saharan Africa needs to generate 8
million jobs every year to achieve sustainable develop-
ment. The Diaspora maintains that any strategy to re-
lieve poverty in Africa should be-gin with these how we
find productive jobs for these 8 million people. This
means an agenda that increasingly supports entrepre-
neurship, enterprise development and pro-jobs growth.
AFFORD’s Challenge to Policymakers
AFFORD has urged policy-makers to work with the
Diaspora to increase effectiveness of policy implementa-
tion on the ground. Working with the Diaspora will
- Redress the marginalisation of Africans in their own
development
- Acknowledge Diaspora as an important stakeholder
in Africa‟s development
- Support African Diaspora organisations
- Engage Diaspora as policymakers
- Tap into Diaspora‟s innovative policies and pro-
grammes
AFFORD’s own work in Africa - SEEDA
To meet the 8 million African jobs challenge AF-FORD
supports Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Sierra
Leone and Ghana through the SEEDA - Supporting