Malawi develops Diaspora engagement policy -Chaponda

Malawi Government has developed national diaspora engagement Policy , Minister of Foreign Affairs and International corporation George Chaponda has confirmed to Nyasa Times.

Chaponda said the Malawi diaspora has always longed to get involved in the development of their homeland and help  with effective  resource mobilization to develop  the nation successfully..

“Over the years some have organised themselves for social networking but the absence of the formal programme of engagement has rendered such initiatives less effective and unsustainable as their activities have mostly been informal,” said Chaponda.

Chaponda said the Diapora  Policy has been developed with funding from European Union.

He said the Ministry is hoping that with the development of the policy there shall be strengthened partnership and engagement with Malawi diaspora.

On diaspora involvement in the flaming of the policy, Chaponda said Malawians living abroad were involved in the drafting of the policy which will facilitate government effort in diaspora engagement.

However, according to Malawian diaspora discussion group on internet, there were “selective”  engagement in the process of coming up with the policy

Chaponda told Nyasa Times that since its inception in 2014, the work has included consultations, capacity building session “Not only for Ministries and but also for private sector.”

“We conducted consultation meetings with Malawians living in UK, Ethiopia, Belgium, Germany and Ireland,”said Chaponda.

In the policy, the definition of the diaspora according to International Organisation for Migration (IOM) means members of the ethnic and national communities who have left their homelands but maintains links with their homelands.