Kenya is calling for a holistic approach in engaging East African diaspora affairs.
Through a statement released on Sunday, the State Department of Diaspora Affairs said Principal Secretary Roseline Njogu urged EAC partner states to take a collective paradigm shift in the approach of harnessing the full potential of the Community’s diaspora.
PS Njogu, who led the Kenyan Delegation at the Permanent Secretaries’ Session of the 14th Meeting of the Sectoral Council on Foreign Policy Co-ordination in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, termed the diaspora as the most critical part of the region.
“Our people, the people of the EAC region, whether they are within our borders or outside of our borders, are the most critical part of who we are and the most critical resource,” PS Njogu said.
EAC member states have initiated diaspora engagement initiatives, with Kenya currently undertaking Mobile Consular Services across the world.
In November last year, Kenya launched the National Steering Committee and the Technical Coordinating Committee to implement the Global Labour Market Strategy 2023-27.
The SteerCo and Technical Committee were put in place to implement Kenya’s new Global Labour Market Strategy in a coordinated way that puts Kenyan talent at the heart of government’s work in protecting, regulating and facilitating labour migration.
Kenya is also reviewing its Diaspora policy, 10 years after the first one was launched in 2014 alongside the Kenya Foreign Policy Document.
According to the draft document, the policy seeks to “protect, engage, empower and prosper the Kenyan diaspora”.
The policy objectives are protect the rights and promote the welfare and interest of the Kenyan diaspora; facilitate diaspora savings, investments, remittances and technology transfer; strengthen partnership and collaboration with the Kenyan diaspora; and to facilitate placement of Kenyans in the international jobs market
Diaspora engagement is in line with the EAC Vision 2050, which is a key priority for the community, as it provides an opportunity to leverage the skills, knowledge, and resources of the diaspora to support economic development, social welfare, and regional integration.
The EAC vision 2050 focuses on initiatives that will create gainful employment to the economically active population to contribute to the growth and development of the region.
The pillars of Vision 2050 further offer opportunities for job creation, which are important to absorb EAC’s growing labour force and unemployment problem.
Long-term job creation requires skills development that is consistent with the emerging development opportunities in infrastructure development; industrialization and manufacturing; value addition in agriculture industry; facilitating the export of labour and management of human capital development, the policy says.
EAC DIASPORA POLICY
The EAC Diaspora Engagement Policy provides a policy framework for engagement of the diaspora into the development of EAC. The EAC Diaspora Desk is expected to facilitate dialogue between EAC and its diaspora community, provide a platform for networking and business opportunities, international trade, and support diaspora- led development projects in the region.
Tanzania also has a diaspora policy, which aims to support the government in enhancing its relations with the diaspora to “tie its financial, social and human capital to the national development”.
More specifically, the policy offers advisory services to an Inter-ministerial task force, led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Uganda has also deliberately engaged its diaspora, establishing the Department of Diaspora Affairs in 2007.
Several projects have also been initiated by various ministries on diaspora engagement, as well as the appointment of the Senior Presidential Adviser on Diaspora Affairs and the appointment of a diasporian as the head of the Department of Diaspora Affairs.
In Rwanda’s case, it put in place its diaspora policy in 2009, as a guiding framework on how the government enageges the Rwandan diaspora towards contributing and being integrated into the national development of the country.
