BACKGROUND INFORMATION
While the contribution of diasporas to development has been widely researched, their input into the
humanitarian sphere remains underexplored. The Diaspora Emergency Action & Coordination (DEMAC)
project aims to document the strength and complementarity of diaspora humanitarianism and highlight
opportunities for greater collaboration at local and international level.
At the occasion of the World Humanitarian Day the DEMAC consortium in partnership with the Global
Child Protection Area of Responsibility teams held a seminar called “Diasporas in Humanitarian Settings
– Creating Opportunities for Complementary Action” on Monday 20th August 2018 at the UNICEF
offices in Geneva.
This seminar created the space to bring Diaspora humanitarians and those within the humanitarian
sector together to learn about and discuss the findings from the latest DEMAC research report “Creating
Opportunities to Work with Diasporas in Humanitarian Settings”.
The seminar also provided the opportunity for humanitarian practitioners and diaspora humanitarians
to hear directly from each other and explore areas of interest. Over the course of the DEMAC project we
have seen the value in creating spaces for one to one conversations to explore areas of synergy and
share experiences, this proved to be equally valuable on this occasion.
