[BLOG] The Diaspora community provides incredible opportunities.

The importance of the Diaspora in Development cannot be emphasized enough. The international community, the international development institutions and the United Nations have acknowledged the value and critical role of the Diaspora in the particular context of development. Drawing from successful development stories in emerging countries from the South is a testimony of the concrete benefits of an active solidarity extended by the Diaspora.

In Africa, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is the blue print for Africa’s development in the 21st century, it provides unique opportunities for Africa to address the critical challenges facing the continent including the Millennium Development Goals, and also promotes the involvement of the Diaspora in the development of Africa through its various priority sectors, for example in its efforts to improve of education and health.

You may also appreciate the relentless efforts of the African Union in regularly engaging with the African Diaspora across the world, which it considers as its sixth region, to facilitate its systematic contributions to the development of the continent.

African institutions and efforts of regional and continental integration have been renewed and strengthened. After registering steady economic growth, Africa has reached a crossroad in its development strategy. Indeed, the global food, fuel and financial and economic crises have raised serious concerns about the continuing vulnerability of the continent to world shocks beyond its control. In this regard, the focus has shifted to the strengthening of African domestic economies, improving domestic resource mobilization, increasing policy space and ownership, and reducing the exposure to external shocks.

There is thus no shortage of challenges that remain to be solved. Africa still suffers from unacceptable levels of malnutrition, hunger, poverty and disease, and various parts of the continent remain affected or threatened by conflict and war.

This article was originally posted on West Africa Business Communities

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