Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) Diaspora Engagement Platform…
Important Announcement
Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) Diaspora Engagement Platform
On 21 June 2022, the Secretary General of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), Mr. Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti and Dr. Awil Mohamoud, the Director of the African Diaspora Policy Centre (ADPC) signed a formal cooperation agreement in Brussels. The agreement states that the ADPC will provide technical assistance to the OACPS Secretariat in order to establish an OACPS Platform for Engagement with Diaspora and People of African descent. The ADPC will support the OACPS Secretariat in developing a methodology and an instrument to facilitate and organise the participation of the Diaspora, People of African descent and other relevant stakeholders within the framework of the new European Union (EU)–OACPS Partnership Agreement in the coming years.
The ADPC will also assist the OACPS Secretariat in its Diaspora engagement and mobilisation strategies. The ADPC is well-placed to carry out these tasks due to its unique position as a Diaspora institution set up by the Diaspora in order to spur and galvanize the leveraging of more productive, sustainable, and long-lasting Diaspora-led development in countries of origin. Firmly rooted within the social setting of the Diaspora communities in Europe and beyond, the ADPC is an appropriate choice to act as a focal point and a representative interlocutor with the OACPS and other stakeholders and players n the field. Diaspora communities have already evolved as critical and strategic development actors within development cooperation circles, in both host and home countries. They have also become an important development constituency and a valuable partner in homeland development initiatives and it is anticipated that this will become more decisive in the future. Once established, the Platform will strive to elevate the engagement with the Diaspora to a higher policy level across the OACPS through technical assistance support in the form of capacity building training, coaching and mentoring services. There is indeed a clear and strong development case for setting up of the Platform, which will facilitate the exchange of good policy practices among OACPS members with regard to Diaspora engagement. The ultimate goal for the establishment of the Platform is to harness more of the considerable resources of the Diaspora (capital, knowledge, and networks) for inclusive development and social change in their respective countries of origin.
