Good People,
While best
practices are needed by the Diaspora people organizing how to engage in diaspora investing
in Africa, social interests for interactives and awareness produces greater impacts for markets and policies
Globally.
Africa/Kenyan Diaspora is a Constituency that is unique within its 3 dimensional interests thus:
1) The Social
2) The Political
3) The Economic
One is free to involve in all or choose one or two according to interest though collectively, they all are basic
fundamental principle driver for Economic development ingredient and substance. To succeed, a successful
leader must navigate in all the three to apply the balance needed for GDP success story to be realized; the
case-scenario which 50 years down the line, failed Kenya with the whole of Africa.
The International Trade and Local business of any Country must balance within an underscore of taxes that
makes a country balance within its considered investments. Diaspora therefore, is capable of providing that
investment easily compared with the Remmitances that have been quantified lately by the World
Bank.
Drive to tap Diaspora Investment must be every African Leaders headache.
It follows with African Diaspora legitimacy in connection with Funding Source and the Global Marketplace, if
it is sustainable and holding its promise. It is here where Transparency is crucial which is why Social, Political
and Economic prospects must correspond with facts as is on the ground.
Town Hall Meeting is crucial where Diaspora as Stakeholders in Africa have an opportunity for a hearing and
where an organized Liason Government Office for Diaspora Department matters are channeled through to the
County Level is Represented at the Embassy.
To avoid
hijacking and while considering that Diaspora people's interest vary from individual, to organizations
to Faith Based and Students, it is logical that components of thinking are diversified and proposals comes in
different
sizes and shapes of
need. To avoid
short-changing and mismanagement, Diaspora connection to
Country's National interest with those of its Local-based have been found to be with intensity and flactuates to
meet diversity of need; a case where Partnership Cooperation for
development vary in their respective areas.
In a free-flow of undertaking to make the best of Human Resource and potential, Devolve interest in the Counties
provides the best National Outlook for Diaspora Investment in Kenya/Africa and it is here where small farmers for
example are not made slaves of big farm owners, but emerges as a competitive edge that
expels monopoly.
Progressive Development with Diaspora Initiatives means:
a) People comes first
b)
Conservation values to be instilled through local schools etc.,
c) Environmental Protection by the local communities engagement
d) Protection, Preserving and Caring for the Mother Earth and Nature
to prevent destruction of ecosystem, but to engage in nurturing the same
e)
It follows other initiatives such as the African
Diaspora Marketplace,
whose second edition was launched recently
by global payment service
provider, Western Union, and the United States Agency for International
Development.
It targets supporting US-based African diaspora
entrepreneurs with innovative and high-impact ideas for start-ups
and
established businesses in sub-Saharan Africa.
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
Best Practices for Diaspora Organizations
At the University of London’s
Center of African Studies
we recently surveyed African diaspora organizations in order to
identify a list of commonly accepted good practices in diaspora
development initiatives and to collect specific examples of successful
projects implemented by the diasporas. Fifty-five European-based African
diaspora organizations participated in our study; most of these
organizations are located in France, Belgium, or Germany, though we also
had participation from groups in Spain, Lithuania, Malta, Switzerland,
and Italy.
Although all of these organizations are working to give back to their
homelands, they are immensely diverse in terms of their size and scope,
initiatives, perceptions of development, capacity or ability to access
resources, and the challenges they face. Despite these differences,
however, all of the diaspora organizations we surveyed seemed to agree
on the key factors that contribute to the successful outcome of a
project. Here, I would like to discuss some of these factors and why
they are important.
Transparency emerged as a strong element of good
practice. That the vast majority of respondents (almost 98 percent) were
open to disclosing information about their projects and experiences is
an important data in itself. Transparency as a value is reflected also
in the fact that most surveyed organizations are legally registered
entities and select their management structure by majority vote or on a
meritocratic basis.
Most respondents indicated good planning and strong leadership
as critical to leading successful projects. For example, one person
that we interviewed believed that showing strong organizational skills
and professionalism was decisive in order to overcome the initial
skepticism of those governmental and non-governmental institutions
approached for funding.
Funding is another major theme: access to different
sources of funding, difficulties in accessing funding, or the way
financial resources are managed, are indicative of good practices and
affect organizations and individuals’ choices and strategies. Because of
limited resources, associations cannot always afford to employ
professional full-time staff or keep their projects afloat.
One of the most interesting findings to come out of the study is the
striking difference in the sources of funding for organizations that are
part of Anglophone versus the Francophone diasporas (in most cases, the
Anglophone diaspora organizations were based in English-speaking
countries and Francophone diaspora organizations were based in
French-speaking countries). We found that Francophone associations are
more likely to fund their projects through donations from their
individual members (including membership fees). In contrast, we found
that most of Anglophone diaspora organizations’ funding came from
foundation grants. However, for both groups, public funding constitutes
their second most important revenue source. International NGOs are
important funders for Anglophone diaspora organizations, but less so for
the Francophone.
While more research is needed to explain this data, it seems that
diaspora organizations are moving beyond remittances to fund development
projects. Also, a different attitude is emerging among governmental
institutions, both in the countries of residence and of origin, which
appear as the main funding agency in sixteen out of the thirty-six case
studies submitted.
The data highlighted also the importance and the complexities of partnerships,
both in the countries where projects are implemented and in the
European country of residence. Partnerships are recognized as
challenging but also crucial for meeting the development objectives.
Enhancing the organizations’ capacity to network and to engage in
mutually beneficial collaborations is thus critical to their long-term
success.
This study suggests that diaspora associations may be growing more
sophisticated in their organizational structure, their fundraising
mechanisms, and their implementation or delivery of support. Promoting
strong links between diaspora and development is as much about capacity
building and associations learning from one another as it is channeling
more funding into development activities.
About the Author: Dr.
Sebastiana A. Etzo earned a PhD in African studies from the Università
degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale in Italy. She currently works at the
Centre of African Studies at SOAS, University of London. She also
pursues independent research, studying African diaspora populations,
African cities, and issues of citizenship and democracy in relation to
changes in the labor market.
The contents of this blog are the sole responsibility of the
author and its ideas and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of
International diaspora Engagement Alliance, the U.S. Department of
State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Migration
Policy Institute, or any of their partners.
==============================
Investing in
Development
A few years ago, the word “diaspora,” when applied to Africa, tended
to be in the context of a cultural or a political connection. The last
several years however have increasingly put “diaspora” and “economic
growth” in the same sentence. Several studies by the World Bank,
McKinsey and others document the dramatic contribution of remittances to
African economies by the African diaspora.
From my standpoint, this has been particularly interesting for the
Overseas Private Investment Company (OPIC)
in that while Africa has been a priority region for OPIC for many
years, the African diaspora are now increasingly becoming an important
part of our client base.
A little background on OPIC for those of you not familiar with the
institution. OPIC is the U.S. government’s development finance
institution; we have been around for over 40 years. OPIC has been
active in Africa since the early 1970s and has invested almost $7
billion. We currently have over $2.4 billion in our exposure in
sub-Saharan Africa.
To achieve all of this, we at OPIC use a number of tools including
debt financing, political risk insurance, and support to investment
funds.
OPIC is self sustaining, we make money and do not cost any money to
the U.S. taxpayer! We do good while making money, how about that?
Now, to the topic of discussion for this panel: can the diaspora provide a sustainable source of financing?
First I think it’s good to clarify that the diaspora investment can complement other Foreign Direct Investment and official ODA.
There are a few reasons why the African diaspora is becoming an
important class of investors and important partners for us at OPIC.
They have a better understanding of the risk assessment capability of
their country, which makes them less risk averse to the opportunities
that appear very risky to the average investor. Recently we met with a
very enthusiastic group of Tunisian professionals in the U.S. who are
eager to invest in the new Tunisia, definitely ahead of others.
Their personal attachment and commitment to their country of origin
turns them into investors with a longer-term outlook, which often is
critical, particularly in infrastructure. Everyone is aware of Celtel’s
and Mohammed Ibrahim’s success by investing early in African mobile
technology when most others did not think Africans could really afford
cell phones.
Once the investment has been made, the diaspora investors have a much
easier time developing local relationships and reflexes that are
essential to the long-term success of the investment.
In situations where the project faces great difficulties, diaspora investors generally show greater tenacity and resilience.
Don’t get me wrong; we have had lots of success with non-diaspora U.S. investors in Africa and elsewhere.
It is also important to also talk about some of the reasons why the
African diaspora are increasingly becoming investors in the continent.
I am sure the issue of “brain gain” must have been discussed sometime
in earlier sessions because I think what we have witnessed the last
couple of years is incredible. The number of African professionals
moving back to the continent to set up shop is huge and has greatly
contributed to the continent’s development efforts. My own brother
moved back a few years ago. The Director of HR at OPIC retired soon
after I got there and moved to his home country of Sierra Leone.
There have also been a lot of economic reforms in most countries on
the African continent the last decade that has made investing in the
continent very attractive. Some of the earlier private equity funds in
Africa have had very successful exits.
There is no region that is experiencing the kind of growth that
Africa is experiencing. Returns on investment in Africa are among the
highest if not the highest. Go to any African city, it is a
construction site.
As I mentioned earlier, OPIC is increasingly doing business with
members of the African diaspora and the African diaspora are becoming a
very important partner for us. I thought I would give you a few
examples of recent projects:
The only investment OPIC currently has in its exposure in Ethiopia is
with an Ethiopian-American who moved back to Ethiopia and with OPIC’s
financing opened a pharmaceutical plant.
We have supported several Nigerian-Americans who are managing private
equity funds and are investing not only in Nigeria but also throughout
Sub-Saharan Africa.
At OPIC, we are bullish on the African continent. There are a few
things that we have done recently in order to leverage the
entrepreneurial spirit of the Diaspora.
Just like the U.S. Small Business Administration, in order to qualify
as a “U.S.“ investor at OPIC, permanent residents (green card holders)
are considered “U.S.,” which will allow more of the diaspora tap into
our tools in support of their investment.
Let me end by saying that OPIC will be there as a partner to the
diaspora investing in Africa. Please come and see us. Thank you.
About the Author: Mimi Alemayehou is the Executive
Vice President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
Ms. Alemayehou was nominated for her post by President Obama on March
10, 2010 and confirmed unanimously by the full Senate on September 16,
2010. Previously, Ms. Alemayehou served as the United States
Executive Director at the African Development Bank where she was
responsible for executing Board decisions on behalf of the United
States government. Ms. Alemayehou served as the most senior US
Treasury official in Africa and was instrumental in pushing for reforms
to make the Bank more transparent and to engage more broadly with
outside stakeholders.
This blog was originally posted on the OPIC website. The
contents of this blog are the sole responsibility of the author and its
ideas and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of International
diaspora Engagement Alliance, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S.
Agency for International Development, the Migration Policy Institute, or
any of their partners.
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Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 1:53 AM
Subject: [wanabidii] Re: DIASPORA INTERESTS- THE BUCK STOPS WITH PRESIDENT UHURU KENYATTA IN 2014 GOING FORWARD
Well-said Ochwangi, very well-said.
Courage
On Tue, Feb 18, 2014 at 11:44 PM, David ochwangi
<dochwangi@yahoo.com> wrote:
The first year anniversary of the Jubilee government is around the corner. The year 2013
was dramatic in many respects- good and bad; new elections and a new
administration under a new constitution, ICC prosecutions, bombings, labor
strikes, spike in crimes, a civil war in South Sudan, etc. It is almost a year
since the President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were elected in
an overcast of both domestic and international cynicism. Despite the odds and
the encumbrances that have dogged them, primarily the ICC and menacing
insecurity not the least of which are the terrorist assaults on the nation, the
Kenyatta Administration has held its own.
Let’s give
credit where credit is due and in this case to President Kenyatta personally for
conducting himself with poise, humility and calmness that has endeared many
Kenyans to him. I’m not suggesting that the Kenyatta Administration has
magically transformed Kenya, far from it. Some of these things take a while to
manifest and we understand, particularly those of us who support this president
and so as we begin 2014, perhaps we should take inventory of the
administration’s performance and do a candid introspection if only to have a
better year 2014 and beyond. We begin with the tone set at the top by the
President and those in command. On this the jury is still out insofar as the
President’s policy positions, appointments and announcements made by those in
his inner circle, after all he is the president and the buck stops with him.
For the record,
I am one of the Millions who supported President Kenyatta’s bid for president
and I am very happy that he won notwithstanding the overwhelming odds and obstacles
against him not the least of which are the International Criminal Court
charges. Kenyans repudiated the ICC at the ballot box primarily because the
court’s agenda turned into a political ploy to impose a West handpicked regime as
opposed to seeking justice for the PEV victims. Even after winning, the court
has relentlessly pursued the President and his Deputy William Ruto but thanks
to the efforts of many Kenyans and international friends, including my own I
may add, sanity appears to prevail. The cloud that has hung over the President
and encumbered his ability to govern may be dissipating, finally.
That said, all
Kenyans expect their government to serve them equally and to prioritize their
interests and for the civil and uniformed servants to subordinate their own for
the greater good of the country and therefore the President deserves an honest
assessment devoid of the inner circle politics that usually keeps him in a virtual
bubble while things get out of hand.
In this
installment, a first of analytic series of the Kenyatta administration, I start
with that which is dear and close to me- the Diaspora- naturally of course. If
you had an opportunity to sit across the table with President Kenyatta, what
would you tell him? I am simulating a mock interview with the president and
telling him directly and candidly what I think of his relationships with the
Diaspora and the many other issues to follow; the good, the bad and the ugly-
no sugarcoating:
DIASPORA AFFAIRS:
President Kenyatta: What do you think of my administration’s
handling of the Diaspora and what can we improve on?
David Ochwangi: I
am glad you asked Mr. President. This is dear and close to my heart as you can
imagine because I am a part of the Diaspora and it is one area our patience is
running thin. To your first question, perhaps we should start with what your
Director for Diaspora Affairs, Dennis Itumbi, thinks of that. Your
administration did poorly last year regarding the Diaspora. Just several weeks
ago, after a spirited war of words on the Social media (Facebook) with the
Diaspora including yours truly, Itumbi put up a brave fight for himself and
your administration- essentially claiming that he and the administration had
done a good job thus far with respect to the Diaspora. And our answer was
emphatic No, no, no no- Mr. President- what Itumbi postulated was factually
incorrect. In fact if I were to grade the administration’s performance on this
issue, it would be an “F” as in
Fail. What concerns me and most of us in the Diaspora is that a) Itumbi’s posturing
about the Diaspora may actually reflect your own position and b) if indeed what
he stated is your position as President, then clearly there is considerable
disconnect between the Administration and the Diaspora and worse yet there appears
to be nothing being done to bridge the gap. That is a big problem; the
administration’s model is deficient and is not working. To his credit, Mr. Itumbi
realized that he was wrong and did a quick 180 and admitted that the
administration had failed the Diaspora in 2013; he tendered an apology on the same
media and promised of great things in the works for the Diaspora coming up
shortly. That was in early January 2014, we have not heard from or of him on
this issue again notwithstanding the hundreds of his posts on everything in the
book, including pastor’s moments and news reports, but the Diaspora. We are not
holding our breaths for that moment but suffice to say we are frustrated in
this area Mr. President and it is up to you to fix the problem.
I am not trying to pile on Mr. Itumbi but
I remember back when he was appointed and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga
admonished the administration with respect to his appointment, he is quoted as
saying, ” The Kind of character who has
been appointed by the Government, I don’t think has the kind of connection
and capacity to bring in the Diaspora together….”. Odinga further said that Itumbi’s appointment was, “a clear indication that the
government was not treating the diaspora with the seriousness it deserved.” http://www.thejackalnews.com/politics/state-house-defends-dennis-itumbi-invites-obdurate-raila-odinga-to-study-strategy
Mr. President I would like you to hear
from me as someone who supports you in more ways than I can reveal here, and in
fairness to Mr. Raila Odinga, as it turns out, he was correct. The truth is Mr.
President, Itumbi’s current role as Director for Diaspora Affairs, for all
intents and purposes, is superficial and it is not serving the Diaspora’s interests
much less your own.
I don’t know Itumbi from Adam but I like him;
he comes across as grounded and religious; majority of his posts reflect a God
fearing guy and I have already told him that he and I are on the same team-
your team, but that is not an excuse for mediocrity. Obviously he has a good
track record as a blogger but for our purposes in the Diaspora, we don’t see
the value or usefulness this background/ activities add to our interests. Frankly
I think that has he been thrust into a difficult position that he clearly
neither understands nor knows much about and that perhaps out of abundant
exuberance he felt or even still feels he can handle but Itumbi has no
demonstrable grasp of the Diaspora. None whatsoever! At one point when
responding to PM Odinga’s criticism, he said that he reports to a guy who used
to live in the Diaspora and therefore that issue is “sorted out”!! Really? Just simple like that?! See Mr. President
that is the kind of stuff that rubs Diaspora folks the wrong way, it sends us the
message that the administration doesn’t take the Diaspora seriously and that it
only pays lip service and this appointment was a token just for show. Frankly it makes former Prime Minister Raila
Odinga look like a seasoned expert on Diaspora affairs.
No framework or platform has been set up
engage with the Diaspora, not a single stakeholders’ meeting, not a single town
hall meeting despite numerous overtures and opportunities to do so, just
nothing but sporadic social media posts. Not even a Diaspora page much less a
webpage with basic information like Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), just
nothing.
By his admission in a TV interview in
December, about six months into the job, Mr. Itumbi stated that he is trying to
understand the Diaspora affairs from
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before he can engage the Diaspora, seriously! The point is it that was quite a stunning
revelation of the poor state of affairs with respect to the Diaspora. First of
all, why do you have two offices handling the Diaspora with practically nothing
to show for it? Don’t Itumbi and the Foreign Affairs Ministry ultimately report
to you Mr. President? What is the purpose for the redundancy and
duplication/overlapping of roles? In Mid-December, 2013 there was a Diaspora
Conference in Washington, DC. Neither Mr. Itumbi nor anyone from the Foreign
Affairs ministry attended, and yet two short weeks later Mr. Itumbi touted the
Administration’s stellar performance in Diaspora affairs on Facebook. The truth
is Itumbi doesn’t understand us, or our issues, or our language, doesn’t walk
our walk and therefore cannot effectively represent us in this administration
or any other for that matter unless in title, for show and tell only.
The Diaspora is not a one size fit all humanity
that one can study and serve remotely at the President’s office in Nairobi,
Kenya. The Diaspora is more than dual citizenship, voter id or voter
registration or voting but even on these basics, there has not been any noticeable
movement by the administration to accomplish anything, nothing. The Diaspora is
also about true representation at all level of government and legislative
agenda, codification of Diaspora specific interests into law, ease of asset
repatriation on a tax exempt regime, benevolence insurance programs, asset
protection, legal counsel and representation as need arises, and many more.
The person that serves as Director of
Diaspora, in my opinion, should necessarily have requisite background key of
which is to live or have lived in the Diaspora, so it is easy for the person to
empathize and relate with the Diaspora, not by proxy as in the present
circumstance. Our folks are spread all over the world and for those of us who
live, walk and breathe the Diaspora, our
interests vary widely just as our stations do and our expectations were and
still remain that you would somehow take that into account when appointing
folks to represent us in the Administration. We expect genuine interest and action
from your administration in truly reaching out to the Diaspora. We are fully
cognizant of your prerogative to hire folks to serve in the administration but
we also reserve the right to criticize when we are being shortchanged.
Additionally, Itumbi’s job description that
he shared with us on Facebook is a twenty three (23) line item description and
buried in lines 11 through 15 are five (5) lines dealing with the Diaspora at
Director level. They are;
xi. Liaising with Diaspora to allow constant
interaction and exchange of ideas between the Presidency and the Diaspora;
xii. Outline
structures for diaspora engagement with the Presidency;
xiii.
Mobilize the diaspora to act as partners in the development of Kenya;
xiv. Design policies and implement programs
fundamental to diaspora relations;
xv. Support
the Presidency’s media outreach activities to include diaspora.
Evidently, there
is saturation of responsibilities, personal and professional piled on one man
that makes it practically impossible to be effective in any one of them. Even Superman has limitations and has to
prioritize his missions. As if not enough, shortly after sharing his job
description with us, Itumbi announced that he has been admitted to one of the
Universities to pursue a Degree in Law.
My point being Mr.
President that a person to deal with a constituency as large and diverse as the
Diaspora cannot have his plate so full that it become an impediment to
efficiently and effectively serve the purpose. It defeats the purpose via a
self-inflicted frustration of purpose, we are being shortchanged and it is not
entirely Itumbi’s fault because he is clearly stretched thin. So this position
as currently constituted is a disservice to your administration, the nation and
the Diaspora.
None of these
job descriptions above have manifested themselves under Itumbi, and they will
not for reasons stated above, and that is our concern, is your administration
serious about the Diaspora? The Diaspora is a major engine of the economy that contributes
in the upwards of KSHs.100 Billion to Kenya’s GDP before we count the multiplier
effect and managing Diaspora Affairs is not a side job to be lumped up with
social communication; it is a separate and more serious undertaking and we
expect this administration to treat it as such.
Finally, Mr.
President, There is still time to remedy this. This you can only achieve if
your administration truly and sincerely engages the Diaspora both in form and
substance and not superficially. There are plenty of well suited Kenyans in the
Diaspora willing and able to genuinely engage with the administration and other
organs of government and I fully expect that efforts to identify and work with
these folks are forthcoming.
