Staying connected in the diaspora – A key to development

Managing the relationship and defining the obligations on African scholars who pursue studies on other continents is a complex issue with no easy answer, but maintaining some form of connection is widely regarded as important for Africa’s development.

In order to create a knowledge pipeline aimed at engagement and change within Africa, doctoral students in the diaspora should reconnect with Africa as soon as possible, according to Dr Fanta Aw, president of Washington DC-based non-profit NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

Speaking as part of the Diaspora Scholars and Higher Education panel at the Conference on the Role of the Diaspora in the Revitalization of African Higher Education, held from 30-31 March at Harvard University in the United States, Aw said: “There’s tremendous interest on the part of our African PhD students to create those connections … Let’s think about how we build that pipeline earlier in the process.”

Advocating not only the academic rewards of diaspora engagement, Aw said members of the diaspora who are also administrators are also critical to forging necessary leadership engagement. “We need to think about building leadership for the long run,” she said.

Malawian Minister of Education, Science and Technology Emmanuel Fabiano agreed, highlighting the fact that three Malawian heads of state had been diasporans. He said that Malawi has benefitted from Africans in the diaspora in a myriad of ways.

Key to development

Indeed, connection was the buzzword during the panel discussion as panellists asserted that connection is the key to continental development – in ways we have seen, and in ways we have not yet seen.

“The reasons that so many of our people are in the diaspora have been personal, academic, political, as well as financial, but that does not stop us from benefitting from their knowledge and skills,” said Fabiano. “So far, when we’ve talked about remittances, I’ve tended to see remittances in the form of money. But we should also be thinking about remittances in the form of knowledge and skills.”

A threading sentiment through such contributions was that diaspora scholars not only want to reconnect with Africa, but it is their moral duty to do so.

“Members of the diaspora have a responsibility to initiate some actions that can be implemented within their respective countries or in the countries they want to work with,” said Fabiano.

If diaspora engagement is viewed as an obligation – governmentally mandated or not – the pathway opens for an exchange of ideas and collaboration, he argued. Influential people within African countries will begin inviting and wanting to work with members of the diaspora, and members of the diaspora will begin conceiving initiatives in African countries, he said.

“When the diasporans go, we should seek to fill gaps that cannot be filled locally – not to displace,” added Gibril Faal, director of the London-based Africa-Europe Diaspora Development Platform. “By following this tactic, we reduce significantly some of the resentment.”

Tensions back home

While most diasporans are welcomed back to their countries of origin, Aw said scholars would be naïve not to acknowledge various tensions back home.

“There are productive tensions in scholar development and in the diaspora community,” she explained. Those tensions, Aw said, have to do with what is needed at the local level and how scholars so often arrive with their own ideas and agendas.

“It’s about the importance of respecting and acknowledging the knowledge that already resides within our institutions back home, and how our scholars can navigate that in a way that can mitigate productive tensions,” she said.

Identity politics are another factor. “As someone who has gone back, I’ve certainly heard on different occasions, ‘Well, you left a long time ago. What are you really coming back with?’”

“Members of the diaspora have a sense of belonging to the country they came from, and if they want to contribute they should feel free to do so,” said Fabiano. “They shouldn’t have to answer to conditions. We all have a responsibility and we must all play our part.”

Smooth engagement

What are some of the methodologies for smooth engagement between Africa and the diaspora?

Some scholars reconnect through well-regarded and funded programs such as the Carnegie Africa Diaspora Fellowship Program, which awards fellowships in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Jonah Kokodyniak, deputy vice-president of strategic development at the Institute of International Education, which oversees the programme, said that medical sciences, education and environmental sciences are its top fields.

It was founded “on sound data that showed there was a great need for the programme”, and that diasporans were energised to get back home, said Kokodyniak. The institute has been gathering experience in operating such projects. Recently, it helped launch a Greek Diaspora Fellowship Program in response to the Greek economic crisis. There is significant interest in launching diaspora programmes in other regions of the world, he said.

African government assistance is another way to connect to diasporans. Ethiopia has developed a deliberate policy for engaging members in the diaspora, and Fabiano said the rest of the African continent needs to have a government policy on how to engage its citizens in the diaspora.

Government policy

Fabiano said Malawi is currently developing a policy to address the gap and called for academic institutions to work with governments on policy formulation. He said institutions should also devise their own policies to enable smooth engagement with members of the diaspora.

Institutions must also establish and maintain connections with universities abroad, Fabiano said.

“Currently, we are in the process of establishing linkages between public universities in Malawi and universities from the US, including Auburn University,” Fabiano said. “And that will be done by establishing new programmes that we feel we need in Malawi and offering them online.”

Faal said while educational partnerships are critical, so too is investing in entrepreneurs: “If you look at the past 20 years, what are the biggest achievements in Africa?” he asked. “Many people would say mobile phones. And if you look at the story of mobile phones in Africa, you see three or four pioneers who’ve made the change. One of those people is from the diaspora,” said Faal, referring to Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese founder of Celtel (which is now part of Airtel) and benefactor of the good governance-focused Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

Faal called for more investment in entrepreneurs, specifically, social and technological changemakers. While some foundations and institutions are reluctant to invest in individuals because it seems elitist or unfair, “there is nothing unfair with investing in some individual who would benefit financially and create benefits for thousands and thousands more,” he said.