According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the term “Diasporas” refers to expatriate groups which, in contrast to “migrants”, apply to expatriate populations abroad and generations born abroad to foreign parents who are or may be citizens of their countries of residence.
The important role that Diasporas can play in development strategies, poverty reduction and economic growth is crystal-clear. Their overall development potential encompasses business creation, trade links, investments, remittances, skills circulation, exchange of experiences and even impacts on social and cultural roles of men and women in the home society, IOM says.
While Ethiopia is believed to have more than three million in the Diaspora, the contributions they have made so far is said to be minimal due to various reasons. Political opposition to the regimes is the main factor.
With a wide array of reform measures underway, the Diaspora has shown willingness to contribute to the national development efforts. The government, for its part, has also been facilitating enabling environment for their proper engagement, with the issuance of citizen-centered diplomacy.
However, both the government and the Diaspora need to learn from other countries that have effectively utilized their resources in the Diaspora so as to lift themselves and peoples out of poverty.
South Korea for example developed a shared national vision of industrialization, underscored it with the slogan “we can live well, too”, and mobilized its Diaspora around it. It persuaded them to invest in the technology complex that would be established in Seoul. The measure, in addition to others put in place helped to transform the Korean economy from a basic economy to one driven by industrial processes.
The Korean economy grew from one that exported fish, plywood and around 1961 to one that exported sea-going vessels, automobiles, and wireless communications in 2009; from one that imported minerals, fuels, machinery and electrical equipment valued at about $344 million to one that imported about $323 billion worth of the same categories of raw materials; and from a negative balance of payment of $311 million to a positive figure of nearly $40.5 billion.
In a similar fashion, the reformist government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has formally called upon all Ethiopians living abroad to contribute “one dollar a day” for their country. Some weeks later the Diaspora established what is known as the Ethiopian Diaspora Trust Fund and began coordinating the Diaspora.
The Fund, at the end of December, announced its approval of 22 projects out of over 300 project proposals it had received in mid-September 2019. The Fund pledged that the identified projects, after undergoing final implementation assessment, the donated funds will be fairly allocated among projects selected through a transparent and comprehensive review process for its critical need, project design, practicality of implementation and financial soundness.
This is a good start-up. Yet not good enough. Because, experiences of other countries such as South Korea, India and China tell us that the Diaspora played a lion’s share in rescuing their countries from abject poverty.
In view of this, the most important thing the Diaspora need to draw from them is the kind of patriotism to support one’s mother-lands’ vision. Likewise the efforts of the government are good, but not good enough.
The Ethiopian Herald January 9/2020
BY STAFF REPORTER
