Diaspora for Development in Africa

Author: 
Plaza, Sonia (ed)
Author: 
Ratha, Dilip (ed)
Publisher: 
The World Bank, Washington DC, 2011, ISBN 978 0 8213 8258 5, 354 pp.
Reviewed by or other comment: 

Dharam Ghai

African Child Policy Forum

 

This book is based on selected papers presented at a conference on Diaspora and Development organised by the World Bank in 2009. In addition to the overview by the editors, the book contains ten papers that touch on all the major issues pertaining to the contribution of the African diaspora to the development of their home countries.

The topics covered by these papers include the role of remittances; financial and direct investment made by diaspora groups in their countries of origin; trade flows, transfer of knowledge, skills, and equipment promoted by diaspora groups; small enterprise development in countries of origin; circular and return migration; and diaspora development and social and religious organisations in the host countries. The focus of most of the papers is on how diaspora resources can best be mobilised to maximise their impact on the development and well-being of people in the countries of origin.
 

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2013.772125#tabModule