A Dialogue in Action: Linking Emigrant Communities for More Development (Inventory of Institutional Capacities and Practices)

The results were elaborated by means of four approaches, including desk research, a structured questionnaire, joint ICMPD and IOM on-site information collection missions that involved meetings with national authorities, ambassadors and consulates, academia, international and non-governmental organizations that deal with emigrant communities related matters. Finally, there were meetings under the frameworks of the MTM (Mediterranean Transit Migration) Dialogue.

Among its main purposes was to show how some governments institutionalize their relation with their emigrant community, and to form a basis for dialogue on good practices, as well as to provide recommendations for further intra- and inter-state cooperation on emigrant community-related matters.

The project covers 13 countries, namely Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lebanon, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Syria and Tunisia. Although far from exhaustive, the Inventory gives an overview of existing institutional practices and indicates challenges related to emigrant communities in those countries.

Issues relevant to migration and development and analyzed in the Spotlight report of CONCORD such as the importance and role of remittances, brain drain, the push and pull factors of emigration are looked at in the specific context of the 13 countries mentioned.

The Inventory is available at the ICMPD website here.

International Centre for Migration Policy Development is an inter-governmental organization with UN Observer status whose main task is to provide services in migration governance to European states and their organizations, and to function as a service exchange mechanism for governments and organizations.