Global Diaspora Forum: Day 2 Recap

Day two of the 2012 Global Diaspora Forum brought to a close this historic, second annual celebration of U.S. diaspora communities.  As Administrator Shah saw first-hand growing up in the example modeled by his father, diasporas often act as “mini-development agencies” by extending financial support, connections, information, and other resources to family members in their countries of origin.  

Additionally, the Forum featured a number of other notable highlights and announcements regarding the U.S. government’s work with diaspora communities. These included:

• Welcoming remarks from USAID/IDEA’s Dr. Maura O’Neill, Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Counselor to the Administrator,
• A breakout session providing guidance to diaspora organizations seeking to partner with public institutions that included USAID’s Global Partnerships and Development Innovation Ventures (DIV)
• A lunch with remarks from Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administrator of USAID and Ricardo Michel, Deputy Director of IDEA.
• An “unconference,” introduced by Chris Jurgens, Global Partnership Division Chief, that included a number of informative roundtables for diaspora organizations looking to scale up their diplomacy and development efforts in their countries of origin.

To learn more:

• Read a  blog post by Maura O’Neil, Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Counselor at USAID, on USAID’s IMPACT blog stressing the importance of engaging America’s diaspora communities in development.
• Visit the International diaspora Engagement Alliance (IdEA) website at www.diasporaIdEA.org for comprehensive coverage from the 2012 Global Diaspora Forum.