Paper long abstract:

There have been intense efforts at associating Africa's developmental aspirations with its diaspora and many have described it as a goldmine that has continued to produce results in flows and trickles. The African Union has considered the diaspora as 'a force for African development' and has since invested a significant amount of efforts, time and all manner of resources to connect with its diaspora. These efforts have further pressured several African countries to engage their diaspora through strategic policies with the intent of courting their commitments for the development of their countries of origin. Thus far, the concentration of the engagement has been largely with Africa's Diaspora community outside the African continent. Given that intra-African migration is known to be higher than across the continent, a key question that arises is to what extent has the engagement policies incorporated the knowledge (academic literature, experiences, aspirations, deliberations, ideas, opinions, perceptions, and views) of the African Diaspora within Africa in the engagement process.

This paper takes a critical look at the literature on African Diaspora within Africa vis-à-vis Diaspora Engagement Policies (DEPs) of selected African countries and assesses the contributions they make to their countries of origin and the extent to which they were engaged in development of their respective policies. It empirically explores from a cross section of respondents from these countries the expanse of their knowledge and how same could be harnessed and factored in the discourse and development of the engagement policies. Further, it dwells on its preliminary findings to support the argument that the best desired outcomes in the narrative would only be achieved through incorporation of their agency in African Diaspora affairs, greater understanding and use of the knowledge they possess across different fields and effective partnership in the design of goals, objectives and strategies for the development of Africa.