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Chapter 10: Diasporas as Partners for Development: Indirect (Pragmatic) vs. Direct (Administrative) Approaches to Diaspora Engagement
The chapter aims to develop an indirect (or pragmatic) approach to facilitate the virtuous cycle of diaspora-home country interactions. This approach favors “high-resolution” diaspora policies — ones that cultivate the project-specific relationships and commitments of movers and shakers (both in the diaspora and in homeland institutions) that might make a significant difference and are counted in tens and hundreds. This novel indirect approach contrasts with conventional direct, or administrative, approaches. The indirect approach is currently in its infancy, which is why we had to rely on our personal policy experience perhaps more than is usual in the context of academic literature. In a nutshell, this chapter draws a parallel between a particular venture entrepreneur developing her high-risk, high-return venture with the help of a network of professional service providers and investors, and a diaspora first mover acting to implement, with support from her own problem-solving search networks, a project to upgrade her home country’s institutions. We also conclude that the core success factor of diaspora mobilization relates to the capabilities of home country institutions to motivate, direct and support diaspora over-achievers. From this perspective, the role of the home country’s government officials who become local champions of diaspora engagement becomes critical