Learning and Policy Advocacy

Survey of African Organisations in London

The crisis of African development will not ease unless ordinary Africans, wherever they are, take more responsibility for and control over their own destiny. The African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) was formed to connect Africans and their organisations abroad working for the development of Africa and her peoples directly with organisations on the continent working towards the same goals. A key concern for AFFORD is that, although very active in the development process in their own unique ways, Africans in the west are generally marginalised from development debate and activities initiated by more mainstream international non-governmental and other organisations. Rather than reinventing the wheel in tackling these issues and deciding how best to intervene, AFFORD took the view that the most useful and sensible way to proceed would be to listen to and learn from the existing African organisations—both African-led NGOs and less formal grassroots organisations—about why they were formed, what sort of activities they engaged in, what they perceived as their strengths and weaknesses, how involved they were or would like to be in development work in Africa, what sort of relationships they had with other organisations, and what their future plans were. Hence this report.

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Introduction to RemitAid™: Remittance Match Funding and Remittance Tax Relief

Remittances have a number of economic and socio-political benefits relevant to development. We have analysed the range of direct, indirect, micro and macro-economic benefits, but have also identified the negative effects inherent in diaspora and migrant remittances. Consequently, we have designed a scheme (i.e. RemitAid™), which mitigates the negative impacts and structural imperfections, whilst optimising the positive impacts of remittances. RemitAid™ proposes that actual remittances sent to Less Developed Countries (LDCs) for activities falling within Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and charitable activities, should trigger government co-funding in OECD countries. The co-funding can be in the form of match funding and/or community (i.e. pooled) tax rebates – managed by a new agency RemitAid™ Development Fund (RDF). The funds shall be treated as endowment capital to generate income for grants and investment in diaspora and development activities in LDCs.

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Diplomats and diaspora dialogue for development: Proposal to create channels of communication between representatives of African governments in the UK and African communities in the UK

This brief concept paper makes a proposal for the opening of channels of communication between diplomatic representatives of African governments based in the UK and segments of the UK’s increasingly diverse African communities, including civil society groups, businesses, faith communities, etc. Boldly stated, the proposal is to initiate an ongoing series of informal dialogue sessions between African diplomats and the African diaspora with a view to deepening the understanding of different sides’ respective viewpoints and perspectives. The presumption is that we are bound by shared visions for Africa’s long-term, self-reliant, self-sustaining and autonomous development as a key player in an increasingly globalising world. A key aim, surely, has to be the strengthening of Africa’s institutional capacity at all levels of society. To that end, the first challenge is to overcome hurdles created by misperceptions, distrust, lack of understanding, and at best sporadic communication and exchanges.

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Diaspora and Migrant Investment and National Development: Building On The Nexus

The current era of intensifying global mobility presents unique challenges as well as opportunities for migrant and diaspora contributions to the development of their countries of origin, heritage and residence. Hundreds of millions of people are living outside their countries of birth, and the recent global migration crisis has resulted in mass displacement of an unprecedented scale. Diaspora and migrant enterprise, investment and remittances have tremendous potential to positively contribute to the global migration and development nexus. To realize this potential, transformative shifts in the management of global human and resource flows have become crucial for all migration stakeholders.

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AFFORD: Diaspora Donor Dialogue Notes

Awareness exists of ways in which diasporas link UK and overseas and recognition of the need to bridge gaps exists For some funders the need is to be creative and flexible about how they interpret their mandates, whether they have a UK, London or international remit (and to communicate this creativity and flexibility) Some funders and policy-makers need to embrace new ways of working that better reflect today’s complexities and realities in terms of how issues affect the people they are aiming to support Funders and policy-makers should collaborate more to tackle social challenges that blur traditional sectoral, departmental or geographical boundaries but to do this they need to be clear about why, what they are seeking to achieve, etc, and also remain within their legal limits, geographically and sectorally Policy-makers with both domestic and international remits are appreciating the two-way linkages between diasporas and their home regions; however, some need more convincing on the positive role of diasporas here in international development Diaspora communities need to be more proactive in putting ideas on funders’ agendas for them to take up (and they need to identify the fora where they can engage with funders) Diaspora communities need to conduct their own purposeful action research into more effective use of remittances, more cost/tax efficient means of transferring financial resources, how events back home impact upon them, how their activities here impact upon people back home, and how communities can enhance their capacity to deal with combined issues that affect them here and there.

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Can NEPAD harness the African diasporas developmental efforts?

The publication of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in October 2001 appears on the face of it (we may alter our view with the benefit of hindsight) to be significant. Ostensibly, it is the first major attempt since the 1980 Lagos Plan of Action (LPA) by Africans to put forward an African agenda aiming to shift the continent out of its current crisis and onto a path of sustainable development. The African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment accompanied the LPA. (It is perhaps a sad sign of the times that activists once critical of the LPA now look back at it with misty-eyed nostalgia!)

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AD3 2017 Briefing Paper: Young Diaspora Entrepreneurs Investing in Africa’s Future

Africa’s population is expected to double over the next 30 years. By the end of the 21st century, 47% of the world’s youth will be African. 1 Though its population is rapidly increasing, job growth remains an obstacle. Along with unemployment and underemployment, the continent also faces other challenges; lack of investment, poor infrastructure, corruption and regional instability – all of which will likely further influence Africa’s youth to seek opportunities elsewhere through irregular migration, further dampening growth prospects. However, Africa’s growing population also offers a growing market and huge opportunities. Young professionals of the African diaspora have an opportunity to invest in Africa, whether through expanding their existing businesses to the continent, establishing or investing in growing areas such as property, agriculture etc., or in structured financial products, such as bonds.

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Remittances: Their Development and Research

Despite the global economic crisis, remittance flows have continued to grow. The year 2012 saw upwards of $50 billion remitted through formal channels to Africa alone, whilst worldwide approximately 250 million migrants remitted over $500 billion in this period, supporting nearly 1 billion people financially. While there remains a vigorous debate amongst researchers and practitioners as to the development impact of remittances, migrant communities continue to remit money to their families, often making considerable sacrifices to do so, and remittances represent a lifeline and safety net for many in the developing world. At the same time, remittances can drive inequality within countries. This policy brief assesses the key issues in relation to remittances and development, as well as the lack of research on the resulting impact that supports development and poverty reduction, and makes recommendations for future action by policy-makers, researchers, and development practitioners.

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Hello Africa 0502 Report

This brief report follows AFFORD’s contribution to the innovations fund meeting held Wednesday 14 February 2002 and seeks to provide more detail and context. In sum, we report that while progress has been slower than originally envisaged, we can point to modest achievements and useful learning. Moreover, looking forwards we feel that we are well-placed, in fact in a strong position, to implement the project.

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Diaspora Professionals in Mainstream Development

This paper aims to set the scene for the discussions that will take place on Thursday 20th November among Black and minority ethnic (BME) professionals working in the UK’s mainstream international development sector. It is literally intended to get the discussion started, the outcome of which we cannot predict at this early stage. Please do not read it as either a definitive analysis of the current situation or the sum total of possible outcomes.

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