Leveraging Africa’s Global Diasporas for the Continent’s Development

In this paper I seek to share some of the insights I have gained from my studies on the African diaspora over the past two decades. It begins by mapping out some of the analytical framings of African Diaspora Studies, with particular reference to the spatial scope and temporal dimensions of the African diaspora. This is followed by an examination of the multiple and multi-layered contributions that African diasporas have made and continue to make to African societies and countries. The paper analyses some of the challenges that undermine more productive engagements between the diasporas and their countries or regions of origin. The paper concludes by focusing an academic initiatives that aim to strengthen the project of engaging African diasporas for Africa’s sustainable development, namely, the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program.