THE NIRSA DIASPORA STRATEGY WHEEL
AND TEN PRINCIPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE
A Diaspora Strategy is an explicit and systematic policy initiative or series of policy initiatives aimed at
developing and managing relationships between homelands and diasporic populations. These policy
initiatives vary from highly formalised and structured programmes to projects that are quite light in
conception and application. A diaspora strategy is perhaps best thought of then as an overarching
framework for providing a level of coherence to the range of diaspora policies devised and implemented by
a variety of agencies.
The NIRSA Diaspora Wheel is designed as a checklist for policy makers currently formulating and rolling
out diaspora strategies. It identifies eight policy spokes around a set of five challenges at the hub. Clearly
in practice some spokes overlap with others. Within each policy spoke a set of key considerations and
critical measures are identified. Work is currently being undertaken to specify a range of concrete
indicators and benchmarks of progress within each spoke.
Maximising
knowledge about
diaspora, policy
and best practice
from elsewhere
Building
long term
relations
with those
who feel some
special
affinity or
affection
for a
nation
state
Constructing, nurturing,
and incubating ‘mindedness’
to connect with homeland
Research
capacity
and
knowledge
Affinity
Diaspora
Cultural
building
Citizenship
beyond
the border
Rationale
Definitions
Protecting
rights and
responsibilities
of overseas
citizens
Philosophy/Ethos
Overarching strategy
Returnees
Institutional Design
Business
networks
Promoting
and lubricating
passage home
Philanthropy/
remittances
Maximising/harnessing
sustainable donation
and remittance
flows
Information sharing
Expanding quantity and
quality of information
flow between the
diaspora and
homeland
Mutual
development
of home
and diaspora
economies
WHEEL HUB
Rationale – Identify the critical social, economic, cultural, political, moral, environmental, and
demographic challenges which the diaspora strategy is conditioned by and in turn might contribute to.
Each country will have different challenges in engaging its diaspora due to differences in the nature of their
respective diasporas, where they have migrated to, and the economic and cultural conditions in the
homeland. A successful diaspora strategy has to be tailored to these challenges and have a well designed
and clear specific end goal.
Definition – Clearly delimit the specific populations which constitute the nation’s diaspora. A meaningful
diaspora strategy depends upon a clear understanding of who belongs to the diaspora. This is in part a
pragmatic matter: any strategy needs to ration limited resources through careful planning and targeting. It
is also, however, of significant political concern given that it ascribes inclusion or exclusion from a national
community.
Philosophy/Ethos – Develop an overall philosophy for the nation’s diaspora strategy and propagate this
vision among stakeholders. States can adopt one of five kinds of engagement with their diaspora that
shapes the nature of the policies and programmes formulated ranging from a market approach to a light
touch to strong managerialism. These are:
Absent
the state leaves the formation of links between the homeland and the diaspora to the
market or to autonomous social, cultural and political movements, with the diaspora selforganizing itself and its engagement with its homeland
Custodian
the state nurtures, protects, regulates, and polices new and emerging diasporic
connections
Midwifery
the state identifies potential engagements and champions/leaders and mobilizes and
cultivates them but leaves ownership in the hands of the diaspora
Husbandry
the state works with and re-energizes existing diaspora organisations and networks
Demiurge
the state directly creates and runs diasporic initiatives and networks, perhaps with the
intention of letting the market assume responsibility at a later date.
Overall Strategy – Decide upon the policy mix and specific policy programmes which are to be
prioritised. Given that a strategy has a specific rationale it is important to determine and formulate a set of
specific initiatives that will ensure that its goals will be delivered.
Institutional Design/Architecture – Specify the structures, programmes and technologies of delivery
which will be best suited to the establishment/fortification of relations with the diaspora, and work to build
any new institutions and institutional arrangements which might be required. Failure to adequately
operationalise overall strategy by using inappropriate structures, programmes and technologies will
ultimately lead to a failure to maximise the engagement with the diaspora and to achieve the strategy’s
goals. Associated here is the appropriate resourcing and staffing of programmes to ensure that they are
given the opportunity to succeed.
WHEEL SPOKES
Culture building - Constructing, nurturing, and incubating ‘mindedness’ to connect with homeland
Key considerations – How can the mindedness of diaspora to be engaged by home countries be cultivated?
Which diasporas, and groupings in the diaspora are in greatest need of being built up? How can diaspora
strategies be best articulated with national cultural strategies? Which kinds of honours system are most
appropriate to reward diasporic champions and ambassadors? How can short term visits be promoted and
best capitalised on to rekindle enthusiasm, pride, and interest in the origin country?
Critical measures – Levels of ‘ethnic’ social capital, tourist visits from the diaspora, diasporic organisation
and participation in patriotic festivals, levels of consumption of home media and cultural outputs, self
identification of ancestry in official (Census) Statistics.
Citizenship beyond the border – Protecting rights and responsibilities of overseas citizens
Key considerations – What kinds of citizenship rights do home countries wish to extend to their diasporic
populations and why? To what extent should home countries’ have a responsibility for vulnerable overseas
groups? How well do they know who and where the vulnerable are? Should home countries be lobbying
to ensure welfare entitlements are provided and accessed in regions of destination or should they
themselves be providing direct support? What are the priorities for lobbying? In providing welfare relief
what are the advantages and disadvantages of working with pre-existing diasporic and other welfare group
and how far should new systems and infrastructure of welfare provision be included? What are the
obligations and challenges which surround extending the voting franchise to overseas groups?
Key measures – Levels of activity of consulates and key foci of this activity; levels of access to rights in
destination regions; levels of satisfaction among diaspora populations about representation and advocacy
supports; scale and geographical reach of direct welfare support from home and quantitative and qualitative
impacts of investments and grants; scale and nature of participation in electoral process.
Business networks – Mutual development of home and diaspora economies
Key considerations – How can countries engage with their diasporas so as to lubricate the globalisation of
their indigenous companies and maximise the attraction of FDI, through knowledge transfer, business
contacts, venture capital, mentoring, and technology transfer and licensing? How can business networks be
established, be made to be sustainable, and create a user demand from indigenous sectors? How can
business networks be made to be mutually beneficial to both the diaspora and to the home country? Who
should set up, run, monitor, and evaluate networks and what different outcomes arise from different actor
groups? What role might business networks play in promoting balanced regional development?
Critical measures – Number of networks; size of networks by membership and geographical base; sectoral
coverage of networks; levels of activity in the network; quality of activity within networks; number and
scale of projects stimulated by networks; perception of benefits amongst users of network utility.
Information sharing - Expanding quantity and quality of information flow between the diaspora and
homeland
Key considerations – Through which infrastructure should home countries open channels of
communication with diasporic groups? How effective are central web portals? What ought to be hosted on
these portals? How can they be promoted, financed, and sustained? What opportunities might free to air
satellite channels provide? What kind of newsletters/print/electronic media do diasporeans want and how
can they be made to reach the widest population? How might diaspora councils, round table forums, global
meetings, and conferences be organised so as to solicit the views of diasporeans and to explore
opportunities? How much consultation needs to go into the formulation and monitoring of a diaspora
strategy itself and how can this be accomplished?
Critical measures – Visits to web portals; circulation/audience statistics for key media; number, quality, and
geographical reach of diasporic consultation and briefing events; and levels of satisfaction among diaspora
populations concerning consultation.
Philanthropy/remittances – Maximising/harnessing sustainable donation and remittance flows
Key considerations – Where and among which populations is the scope for philanthropy greatest? How
should donors be approached, by whom, and in respect to what projects? Should countries consider
sending policy makers and would be philanthropic organisers on emerging internationally recognised
courses on the art and science of philanthropy? How can diaspora strategies be more suitably tailored and
what kinds of typologies or market segments are appropriate? How can we segment diasporas, and might
models from market research be employed and recycled in this context? How can remittance monies be
transferred at the lowest cost? How might remittance monies be best channelled by private households for
the collective good?
Critical measures – Quantitative measures of number and scale of financial flows; number of fund raising
events; number of donors; trends in donations; cost of wiring money home and levels of capital lost en
route; quantitative and qualitative impacts of flows/projects.
Returnees – Promoting and lubricating passage home
Key considerations – What skill shortages exist in the domestic economy? What brings migrants home?
How much repatriation is down to hard economic, family and lifecycle, and culture and lifestyle factors?
Who should be responsible for prospecting for global talent and what policies and pitches should be
adopted? How can country’s make it as easy as possible for talented migrants to return home? What kinds
of one stop shops work best? How can country’s support the return of vulnerable and less resourceful
migrants?
Critical measures – Levels of awareness of opportunities to return within the diaspora; number of visits
and enquiries to relevant web sites; visitor levels at recruitment fairs; number of returnees; socio-economic
composition of returnees; employment and salary outcomes for returnees.
Affinity diaspora – Building long term relations with those who feel some special affinity or affection for a
nation state
Key considerations – Who should be part of a nation’s affinity diaspora? How can such diaspora be grown
so as to have an elevated commitment to a nation? How important are educational institutions, alumni
networks and intern schemes to affinity diaspora relations and how can they be made to be more effective?
Which global regions and markets are most strategically valuable and for which specific affinity groups
should be recruited with greater vigour? How can affinity diasporas be more effectively drawn into a
national diaspora strategy and can two countries bring their diaspora strategies into alignment for mutual
benefit?
Critical measures – Levels and types of networking whilst resident; level of satisfaction of experience of
stay, level and type of contact once moving home or to a third country; sense of belonging and attachment
to the transient homeland; skill set and cultural competencies.
Research capacity and knowledge – Maximising knowledge about diaspora, policy and best practice
from elsewhere
Key considerations – What kind of research might productively underpin the development of diaspora
policy within each country? From which part of the state (or private and voluntary sectors) is research
being commissioned, how is it being circulated, and how is it being acted on? How much of this research
is comparative in nature, evaluating and contrasting programmes developed by different countries? How
can comparative research lead into policy transfer or improvement? How well do home nations know their
diaspora and how is historical and current research on diasporas being compiled and amassed?
Critical measures – Existence of research centres with expertise on diaspora; volume of funding for
diaspora research; volume and range of research projects commissioned; participation in international
workshops; degree to which policy is evidence based; volume and effects of policy monitoring and impact
analyses.
TEN PRINCIPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE
1. A diaspora strategy should be centralized enough to ensure that a common identity, sense of purpose,
collective consciousness, economies of scale, and strategic priorities can be achieved, but loose enough
to let a thousand flowers bloom. Coordinated anarchy is not entirely indispensable.
2. A diaspora strategy cannot privilege economic ties over social and cultural networks and still be
sustainable.
3. A diaspora strategy needs to be mutually beneficial for both home countries and diasporic populations.
4. Countries that know their diasporas well will be better placed to engage them.
5. Diaspora strategies should define ‘diaspora’ as broadly as possible to avoid racialising national social,
cultural, economic, and political policies – and should include affinity diasporas policies where
appropriate..
6. Diaspora needs to be consulted before any diaspora strategy is rolled out; diaspora strategies must be
coauthored if they are to work.
7. Diaspora strategies need to be transparent and need to be held accountable, but given the specificity and
the many intangible benefits of policy interventions, distinctive and unique policy impact analysis tools
and evaluative frameworks and metrics need to be developed.
8. There is no ideal institutional framework for coordinating diaspora strategies; each country needs to
devise forms of engagement which reflect their own institutional histories, social, cultural, economic, and
political needs, and the histories and apriori structures and organisation of their diaspora.
9. Diaspora strategies need to be brought into the growing international conversation about best practice
and should pro-actively affiliate themselves with networks involved in policy dissemination.
10. Diaspora strategies need to be underpinned by a philosophically grounded rationale which resonates
with the country’s deepest social, economic, cultural, and political needs at any point in time. Shallow
slogans might lead to short terms gains but will fail over the long term; a meaningful overarching identity
will galvanise and energise.
For more information
http://www.nuim.ie/nirsa/diaspora/
Contact
Prof. Mark Boyle: mark.g.boyle@nuim.ie
Prof. Rob Kitchin: rob.kitchin@nuim.ie
Dr Delphine Ancien: delphine.ancien@nuim.ie
June 2009