Engaging Diaspora Talent: How Countries Can Integrate their Diaspora and Development Agendas

Diaspora engagement has become a key and accepted component in the arsenal of development strategies. The question of how to effectively and efficiently harness the force of a country’s diaspora through government intervention and policy remains one that many governments and international organizations are grappling with as they move forward with development policy and strategy. Diaspora interventions tend to be organic in nature and outside the confines of the typical government and institutional structures. The Migration Policy Institute has released an edited volume, How Can Talent Abroad Induce Development at Home? Towards a Pragmatic Diaspora Agenda, which includes commentary from leading experts in the field. During this book launch discussion at MPI, volume editor Yevgeny Kuznetsov, a World Bank senior consultant and MPI nonresident fellow, discusses findings with Kathleen Newland, Director of MPI’s Migrants, Migration, and Development program; and Lev Freinkman, author of research in the volume and former World Bank senior economist. The discussion offers new insight into how governments and international organizations can effectively implement diaspora engagement strategies that utilize institutions, the private sector, and individuals to their full potential.