OVERVIEW: “African Ambassadors and the African Diaspora as Economic Gateways”

This year, INGO Third Sector Resource and its development partners are organising for the first time, outside Africa, an African Ambassadors Interactive Forum aimed specifically to engage the African Diaspora.

The African Ambassadors Interactive Forum (AAIF) was borne out of a necessity to promote the integration and development objectives of the African Union in a more operationally sustainable way. The NEPAD Initiative, which is the flagship economic and political development program of the African Union, lays strong emphasis on building partnerships and involvement of all stakeholders to fast track the development of the African continent. This Forum is a platform for translating these noble objectives into reality through harnessing the resources of the Africa Diplomatic Missions and Africa Diaspora to fulfill Africa’s economic development agenda.

The first edition of the Forum, held in June 2004 at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, Nigeria, focused on the theme “African Third Sector; Collaboration; Partnerships and Overseas Cooperation” and served as a necessary platform to forge necessary partnerships.

The second Forum was themed “African Debt Burden” and was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja in 2005. Organized in collaboration with the African Business Roundtable, it was supported by the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Cooperation and Integration in Africa. African Ambassadors, their colleagues from the G8 Countries, Business and civil society, and the public sector participated fully in the Forum. This Forum lent its voice for the compelling need for debt relief and outright debt cancellation for poor African Countries by the rich industrialized nations as a means for fast tracking development in the Continent.

The third Forum, held at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja in November 2006, was themed ‘Gains of debt relief and prospects for African integration and Development’. With more revenues secured for development through debt cancellation, the Forum advocated judicious application of the gains of debt relief to sustain the confidence of the international community.
The 4th African Ambassadors Interactive Forum will bring together African Ambassadors in the UK, the African Diaspora, stakeholders in African Development and Friends of Africa. London, which is regarded as a world capital, is selected not only for its large concentration of African professionals but for its diverse cultural affinity with most parts of Africa. This Conference will thus importantly celebrate the positive role of Africans in their own development, and to explore ways by which a reasonable framework of co-operation and collaborative networks can be established.

THE AFRICAN DIASPORA

The African Union has defined the African Diaspora as “consisting of people of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union”. Its constitutive act declares that it shall “invite and encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of our Continent, in the building of the African Union”.
The AAIF recognizes the growing and significant role of the African Diaspora in the development of their countries of origin. The African Union has actually designated the African Diaspora as a sixth Sub-region of Africa.

THE AFRICAN ECONOMIC PROBLEM

Macroeconomic fundamentals, with economic growth and low inflation, control on fiscal deficits, and a fall in the regional current account deficit have remained encouraging for many Africa countries. While these trends are encouraging, progress has been sporadic, intermittent, and uneven across the continent. The development challenges facing Africa, including attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), continue to be daunting and require large investment in resources to address some of the critical structural impediments to accelerate economic growth.
It is, however, a fact that millions of people of African descent reside in the Americas, Europe and other parts of the world.

While the exact number of African immigrants living and working outside their countries of origin is not known, anecdotal evidence and some case studies suggest that well over 3 million Africans (some estimates suggest 7 million) live outside their country of origin. Since the 1990s, the African Diaspora has been growing and a large number of skilled, professionals, and semi-skilled Africans have migrated outside the continent. Remittances from African migrants to their countries of origin have increased in the past decade in tandem with external migration of Africans. In recent years, Africa has been receiving an average of $12-14 billion annually in migrant remittances. The remittances to Africa are second in importance only to Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) and in some North African countries, remittances exceed ODA flows. Moreover, such financial flows to Africa could rise significantly with greater international labour mobility. Thus, African migrants could provide an increasingly important source of financing for both consumption and welfare of the receiving households and families as well as for investment.

The African Diaspora possesses various forms of capital such as investment, intellectual (professional, technical and entrepreneurial skills as well as expertise), social (trust, values and relationships) and political capital (lobbying and advocacy), which could be positively mobilized for African development. While potential entrepreneurs in Africa are limited in their actions by a lack of information about opportunities, potential partners, institutional contacts and resources, preliminary research demonstrates that many Africans in Europe, and many others who feel committed to the development of Africa, have important skills and access to a wealth of human and material resources but perceive few avenues to apply these resources for the benefit of Africa. This Forum, among other issues, is aimed at bridging that Gap.

INGO Third Sector Resource, through exchange of views and experiences, intends to use the 4th African Ambassadors Forum 2007 to map out the guidelines and framework for greater engagement of the African Diaspora in a coordinated and integrated manner with the African Ambassadors and their Missions in order to support increased investment flows to the African continent and strengthen Consular relations with their citizens in African Diaspora.

INGO Third Sector Resource has identified the following core issues and themes for discussion during the Forum:

1. Role of the African Diaspora in the economic and social development of Africa.
2. Networking for Change – African Ambassadors and the Diaspora.
3. Reaching the Poor in Africa – The role of all concerned.
4. Promoting awareness of international development and investment opportunities in Africa
5. Coordinating the role of African Missions to serve as economic gateways

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE FORUM

1. Encouraging African Ambassadors/High Commissioners to serve as effective economic gateways.
2. Empowering the African Diaspora with information on how to come to the forefront of economic development in the continent.
3. Development of strategies by Diplomatic Missions for reinforcing the African Diaspora.

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT

The future of African economic development we believe will be served by this forum which will also welcome development Partners, Stakeholders and Friends of Africa.