Diaspora inclusion in the Dutch development agenda

With more than 22 percent of its residents coming from over 220 foreign countries, The Netherlands is one of the most diverse nations in the world. As a result, the country is home to a variety of diaspora communities and organisations that represent them. It has been argued that these diaspora organisations could play a crucial role in making Dutch development policies and programmes more effective. At present, however, both the Dutch development sector and the Dutch government seem to struggle with the question of how the diaspora can best be included in their efforts. Therefore, The Broker, in collaboration with Partos, is launching an online knowledge dossier, to help shed light and stimulate constructive dialogue on diaspora inclusion.

20 mei 2020

Over the coming weeks, in this online dossier the role of the diaspora in inclusive development will be discussed from six different perspectives: the Dutch government, the Dutch development sector, diaspora entrepreneurs, diaspora civil society organisations, the Dutch private sector and academia. Guiding questions include, but are not limited to: To what extent can the African diaspora in The Netherlands support Dutch NGOs in their goals and activities (realising inclusive development in The Global South)? What is the role of diaspora civil society organisations in the realisation of inclusive development (in both The Netherlands and The Global South) and what challenges do they face? By featuring authors from different backgrounds to answer these and other relevant questions, this online dossier will contribute to a better and more comprehensive understanding of the (potential) role of the diaspora in the Dutch development agenda. It is our hope that their insights will provide guidance as to what direction development policy and programming should take to move towards more efficient inclusion of and collaboration with the diaspora in the Netherlands.

Source The Broker

For Partos, inclusion and collaboration, are two key ingredients for effective development cooperation. We expect there are possibly great gains for the reinforcement of inclusion and collaboration with the (Dutch) diaspora. A first step is this exploration with The Broker in which we hope to identify new perspectives, common drivers, complementary roles and possible joint initiatives. The outcomes, both in terms of new insights and new connections, will also inform us for our new innovation program 2021-2025, currently under preparation. Therefore, one of our assumptions is that closer engagement with the diaspora might give a major boost to initiating, implementing and scaling up innovations for sustainable and inclusive development.

More information https://www.thebrokeronline.eu/diaspora-inclusion-in-the-dutch-development-agenda/