Terms & Condition

 

Beyond Bangladesh’s borders, lies the untapped power of its citizens in the diaspora. The Bangladesh diaspora has a potential to play a key role in the development of the country and must be viewed as “National Strategic Asset”. Diaspora strategies that extend across a range of social, cultural, political, educational and financial dimensions must be formulated and implemented. A “Diaspora Engagement Policy” must be developed by government to define modes and terms of engagement with the diaspora. A “Bangladesh in the Diaspora Database”, must be created as an information and networking tool for government and Bangladesh abroad. The Bangladesh government can greatly benefit from massive untapped power of Bangladesh in the diaspora through remittance of money, human resources, investment and exchange of ideas to boost economic growth and national development. Remittances from the diaspora into Bangladesh can be channelled into various investment and developmental programmes. According to the World Bank, remittances to developing countries totalled $188bn in 2006 – double the amount of international aid received in the same year. Government must tap into the potential of the diaspora as a National Strategic Asset.

This Policy Brief builds towards developmental framework for the Government to engage the Bangladesh diaspora in national development efforts. There is currently no policy on diaspora engagement in Bangladesh. This Policy Brief draws up a preliminary roadmap for short and medium-term interventions necessary to engage the Bangladesh diaspora. It offers guidance for the formulation of a national diaspora policy that would ensure the effective engagement of the diaspora. The ultimate goal is realization of the rights for Bangladesh in the diaspora to participate in national development and utilization of resources for investments.

Statement of the Problem A diaspora policy and development engagement frameworks are currently lacking. The government recognizes that Bangladesh abroad have the right and enormous potential to contribute to national human and financial capacity building, through the sharing of knowledge, skills, experience and the transfer of financial sources via remittances. Levels of diaspora engagement by government haven’t been satisfactory. Government acknowledges the enormous potential of the diaspora to contribute towards national development, but an engagement framework has been lacking. Harnessing the diaspora potential and leveraging it for development purposes requires a deeper understanding of the diaspora, who are also keen to exercise their right to participate in the affairs of the nation.

PRE-EXISTING POLICIES AND INITIATIVES
Bangladesh has no diaspora policy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is mandated to coordinate and organize the operations of Bangladesh mission abroad. Significant initiatives have been undertaken in the past to facilitate diaspora engagement. The first major initiative was the Bangladesh Diaspora E-Conference. This conference was held in 2008, with a view to setting the frame for Bangladesh’s citizens abroad holding collective dialogue with ‘Home’. The main theme for the conference was to explore the diaspora’s collective aspirations for Bangladesh through ‘Visioning’ and ‘Prioritization’ of actions. It was hoped that the next steps following the conference would facilitate the development of government policy on the welfare of its citizens abroad. This was also to fill the policy gap required to complement the existing Vision 2030, which only constitutes the development aspirations of Bangladesh’s domiciled citizens. This is in keeping with the African Unions urge to all its member countries to take ownership of their citizens in the diaspora as respective country’s members of constituencies abroad. The second major initiative was the Bangladesh Diaspora; held in 2010.

 

Last Update: 30-Oct-2022