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The Migration & Diaspora Podcast

15 Episodes

50 minutes | 6 days ago
Episode 14: Invaluable insights from providing technical assistance to 20 governments in the field of migration
Hello, you're listening to the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, with me your host, Loksan Harley. It's January 2021 so a very happy new year to you and let's hope this year is much better than 2020; I mean, it really has to be, right. For those of you subscribed already to this podcast's mailing list, I hope you enjoyed the new year update that I sent you last week and I'd really like to hear back from you and how I can support your migration and diaspora goals in 2021, so feel free to get in touch. Today I have my sister, Odette Bolly, on the show to talk us through her experiences providing technical assistance to governments across Africa in the field of migration. Odette, originally from Senegal, is currently working as a Programme Manager at the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) Uganda country office, leading their Labour Mobility and Human Development (LHD) work. Odette has worked for several country offices for IOM since joining the organisation in 2015. In particular, she led the delivery of over 20 technical assistance projects across Africa for the ACP-EU Migration Action programme, which is when I was fortunate to work with her myself. Before joining IOM, Odette worked for Oxfam and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, so she knows the United Nations system very well. Given her vast experience designing and delivering technical assistance to governments across the African continent, Odette was the ideal person to talk to about how to do technical assistance well. We discuss what forms technical assistance can take, how to assess government needs for technical assistance, and the key ingredients to high-impact technical assistance. Stay tuned to find out how Odette "pre-cooks" (her own words!) technical assistance, as well as her key pieces of advice for people and organisations in the process of designing technical assistance. I especially appreciated the way in which Odette speaks with such candour and honesty, giving us some fantastic insights into what it's like to work with governments. Given that a lot my own work has been supporting governments, I thought I'd write a short article about my own "lessons learned" from providing technical assistance in the field of migration, which I'll link to in the show notes. Check it out if you want to go deeper into the topic. As a very important disclaimer, please note that the views expressed in this podcast episode are our own personal reflections and do not represent the views of IOM. Feel free to get in touch at loksanharley.com/podcast if you have any further questions. Without further ado, thanks for tuning in and we hope you enjoy our interview. Useful links: Loksan's Top 10: How to provide high-impact technical assistance in the field of migration Implementing ACP-EU Cooperation on Migration and Development A collection of good practices and lessons learned from the ACP-EU Migration Action (also by Loksan and some top experts) ACP-EU Migration Action programme Connect with Odette on LinkedIn Subscribe to the Migration & Diaspora Podcast
54 minutes | a month ago
Episode 13: The 20th birthday of the UN protocols on trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants - cause for celebration?
Hello and thanks for joining me your host, Loksan Harley, for another episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast. I'm very lucky to be joined today by Dr Marika McAdam to discuss a special birthday that is taking place this year: the 20th birthday of the three Palermo protocols to address trafficking in persons, the smuggling of migrants and the trafficking of firearms. This certainly is not your usual birthday celebration! For those who are less familiar with these topics, these three protocols were developed to supplement the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). They provided the first international definitions for trafficking and smuggling, and they have been instrumental in bringing about greater awareness and action to address these crimes and protect victims of trafficking. The definitions of trafficking and smuggling are somewhat complex - which is just one of the issues we touch on during today's episode - but to give you a brief summary, trafficking was broadly defined by the protocol as the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them; and smuggling, in my words, is facilitating the illegal entry of a person into another country in exchange for money or  material benefit. So a bit about Dr Marika McAdam. Marika is an independent legal consultant, scholar and adviser who has worked with UNODC, IOM, OHCHR, Chatham House, and the NEXUS Institute, among others. She is currently serving as international law and policy adviser for both the ASEAN-Australia Counter-Trafficking, and the Bali Process Regional Support Office on people smuggling, trafficking in persons and related transnational crime. In her work to counter trafficking, she has developed and delivered training to law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges; advised parliamentarians; and contributed to UN expert groups. She has also carried out counter-trafficking legislative assessments in Southeast Asia, the South Caucasus and the Horn of Africa. She has a PhD in international human rights law and has published a book, entitled Freedom from Religion and Human Rights Law (see link below). I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with Marika, who has so much experience on this topic, about the achievements and shortcomings of the Palermo protocols. We touch on some of the challenges inherent in how the protocols define trafficking and smuggling, why the trafficking protocol is getting more attention than the smuggling and firearms protocols, the oft-forgotten link between the UNTOC and the protocols, the ways in which (and reasons why) the definition of trafficking has expanded over the years, and the implications of the increasing focus on "modern slavery". I highly recommend paying close attention to this one, as our conversation certainly changed the way I think about human trafficking - especially how it relates to practices like forced marriage and forced military recruitment, which are often considered trafficking but which typically do not involve the types of transnational organised crime that the UNTOC sought to address. You might also want to head to loksanharley.com/podcast to check out episodes 3 and 11, which are also about human trafficking in case this episode leaves you wanting more. This is our last episode of the year, so a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year in advance! Anyway, without further ado, thank you very much for listening and I hope you enjoy the show. Useful links Follow Marika: https://twitter.com/Marika_McAdam Check out Marika's book - Freedom from Religion and Human Rights Law: Strengthening the Right to Freedom of Religion and Belief for Non-Religious and Atheist Rights-Holders: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Freedom-Religion-Human-Rights-Rights-Holders-ebook/dp/B077G2ZZPT
62 minutes | a month ago
Episode 12: How to engage diasporas in humanitarian assistance
Welcome to the Migration & Diaspora Podcast with me your host, Loksan Harley. Today I'm joined by Dr Daniela Villacres to talk about the fascinating topic of diaspora engagement in humanitarianism. Daniela specialises on diaspora, remittances, and civic engagement mechanisms in the context of both international development and humanitarian assistance. Daniela has worked on these topics with governments, international organisations, non-profits, and research institutions. She has provided technical assistance on the behalf of the International Organization for Migration on mainstreaming diaspora engagement across multiple sectors, such as climate-induced displacement; and worked with the World Bank to reduce the cost of sending remittances. Throughout her career, Daniela has collaborated extensively with diaspora groups, prioritising the creation of policies and programmes which empower and elevate diaspora voices. Daniela holds a BA from Emory University, an MPhil from the University of Oxford, and a PhD from Brown University. I've known Daniela for a few years now and while I've long known her for her excellent work on migration and development, she is rapidly becoming one of the authorities on the topic of diaspora humanitarianism – or how diasporas' engage in humanitarian responses. It's a topic that's increasingly been popping up in my work on diaspora engagement, particularly since it was spotlighted at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016. So in this conversation, where I honestly forgot at times that I was recording a podcast episode and not just having an engaging chat with a good friend, we talk about how diasporas respond to humanitarian crises, how their efforts are supported and coordinated (or perhaps not sufficiently coordinated) with the response actions of other humanitarian organisations, and the principles that can ensure effective diaspora humanitarian engagement. There's a lot to get through so without further ado, we hope you enjoy listening! Useful links IOM publication on Diaspora engagement in humanitarian response: https://unofficeny.iom.int/sites/default/files/FINAL%20Paper%20-%20Diaspora%20and%20Humanitarian%20Response%20-%20May%202015.pdf BOND publication on What Development Means to Diaspora Communities: https://www.bond.org.uk/sites/default/files/resource-documents/what-development-means-to-diaspora-communities-1115.pdf Diaspora Emergency Action and Coordination (DEMAC) & Samuel Hall publication on Creating Opportunities To Work With Diasporas In Humanitarian Settings: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/report-final-12052018.pdf EUDiF & Shabaka survey on diaspora response to humanitarian crises: https://diasporafordevelopment.eu/research-survey-launch-diaspora-response-to-humanitarian-crises/ Connect with Daniela on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-villacres-a9638622/
44 minutes | 2 months ago
Episode 11: How to use ICT to fight human trafficking and labour exploitation
Hello, I'm Loksan Harley and you're listening to another episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a show about all things migration. I'm joined today by Hannah Thinyane to talk about Apprise, which is a tool for screening vulnerable populations with the potential to unmask situations of forced labour and human trafficking. A little bit about Hannah: Hannah is currently a Principal Research Fellow at the United Nations University Institute in Macau, where she leads the Migrant Tech Research Project. Since 2016 she has led a multi-disciplinary team, innovating and inventing ICTs to support proactive and consistent screening of workers in situations of labour exploitation and human trafficking. She has over 15 years’ academic and practical experience in the area of mobile computing, ICT for development, and human-computer interaction. During this time, she has undertaken applied computing research, conceptualizing, designing, developing and rolling out systems for underserved areas in Africa and Southeast Asia.  She has authored more than 90 peer-reviewed publications based on her research, publishing in both academic and policy circles. Hannah’s work has been presented at or showcased by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking and several other international forums. As you'll also learn, although somewhat obscured by her Australian accent, Hannah has grown up and worked in a number of different countries and considers herself part of the Welsh and UK diasporas, so listen out as I quiz her on her grasp of the Welsh language at the beginning of the interview! Our discussion focuses on Hannah's experiences utilising technology to benefit migrants, especially those finding themselves in exploitative conditions. It's really worth listening to if you are curious about the different technological applications that can benefit migrants and the steps to take to develop such applications. Key takeaways are to keep things user and solutions-focused (as opposed to tech-focused), focusing resources on working with target users to develop and pilot your tech solution. Anyway, all this will become apparent during our interview, so without further ado, I'd like to thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy the show. Useful links: @Apprise: https://twitter.com/AppriseSolns Apprise website: https://www.apprise.solutions/ Apprise research-facing website: https://cs.unu.edu/research/migrant-tech-apprise ICT skills training for survivors of sexual exploitation: https://cs.unu.edu/research/migrant-tech-survivors The app being used in the Philippines with survivors: https://neuroscape.ucsf.edu/technology/#ace Another tech project Hannah is working on to support survivors of exploitation in their reintegration: https://cs.unu.edu/research/migrant-tech-survivors Connect with Hannah on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-thinyane-b9704035/
62 minutes | 2 months ago
Episode 10: How to integrate migration into international cooperation and development
Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a show in which we talk about anything and everything to do with migration; with me your host Loksan Harley. Today, we are lucky to have with us Katy Barwise from the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) European Regional Office to talk about her and IOM's mission to "mainstream migration" into international cooperation and development, which broadly means taking into account the migration linkages within international development programmes and projects. Now if that still sounds like Greek or Chinese to you, do not worry because we'll explain all very shortly. Katy is an unbelievably sharp and worldly programme manager who, before joining IOM Brussels in 2017, spent 12 years with the organisation in South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique and Australia (covering the Pacific). During that time, she developed and managed projects in the area of migration and health, diaspora engagement, labour migration, migration governance, migration and climate change, and community development. Katy holds a Master’s Degree in International Studies and Diplomacy and an undergraduate degree in African history, both from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, which, in my completely unbiased view (wink wink), is a fantastic school. It's because of this rich and varied background that she is the ideal person to talk about the linkages between migration and development, and the linkages between migration and different development sectors. And by the way, when we say "development sectors" we're talking about areas of work within international development, like education, health, rural development, environment and climate change, and so on. It's worth mentioning here that part of Katy's brief is also to provide technical assistance and capacity building to strengthen policy coherence between migration and development policies, in particular in the framework of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda. Just a quick disclaimer, I worked as a consultant to Katy's project for a good year and a half.  Learn more about the “Mainstreaming Migration into International Cooperation and Development” (MMICD) Initiative implemented by IOM and funded by the EU: - Webpage: eea.iom.int/mmicd - Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/mmicd/ - Twitter: twitter.com/IOMatEU  (#MMICD, #MigrationConnection) Check out the series of videos developed under the MMICD Initiative that capture what integrating migration into development programmes means in practice for people and communities: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPbTEMLeBi2nFhYF7OAJZzLo5k5dpDg-b Read more about IOM’s work on migration and sustainable development: migration4development.org
65 minutes | 2 months ago
Episode 9: How to maximise the potential of diaspora investment
Good afternoon, you're listening to the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a podcast where we discuss all things related to migration and diaspora, with me your host, Loksan Harley. On this week's episode, we're joined by an absolute rockstar of a guest, Eric Guichard. Calling in from his home in Maryland, USA, Eric is CEO of Homestrings, which he founded in 2012 as a web-based crowdfunding platform, which offered the African diaspora access to investment opportunities. Homestrings raised over $25 million in capital from 5,000 members, which led to Eric being named 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year and 2014 African Financier of the Year in the UK. Harvard Business School, of which Eric is an alumnus, also published a case study on Homestrings' experiences with diaspora-based crowdfunding. These days, Eric and Homestrings focus their energies on sharing their expertise and first-hand experiences by advising governments and private sector clients on diaspora investment. And I don't know how he finds the time but Eric also sits on several boards, including the African Development Bank's Diaspora Investment Advisory Board and the African Union's African Diaspora Initiative Steering Committee. Eric was therefore the ideal guest to give us an overview of diaspora investment and talk us through the state of play of the sector, including what both diaspora origin and host countries can do to catalyse diaspora investment, in addition to relating diaspora investment to diaspora engagement and migration governance more broadly. I definitely recommend listening closely to this one as Eric reveals to us the few key priority actions that governments can take to really maximise the potential of diaspora investment. There are some linkages here with episode 2 on Doing Diaspora with Dr Martin Russell and episode 4 with Mr Remittances, Leon Isaacs so tune into those if you haven't already. I had great fun recording this episode. Eric is so articulate and has such a unique perspective on this topic - no doubt informed by his own migrant and diaspora experiences growing up in Guinea, Senegal and the United States, as well as his extensive professional experiences working in private sector asset management and as a sovereign adviser at the World Bank. As well as being the podcast's first American guest, Eric also happens to be the first Arsenal fan on the show, which is really the only character flaw I can pick out in Eric and does make me second guess his judgement! Anyway, in spite of that, this episode is absolutely littered with industry-leading free advice and I do hope you enjoy listening. Useful links Homestrings, Inc.: Diaspora-Based Financing and the Crowd Funding of Development: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=45600 Homestrings: http://www.homestrings.com/ Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eguichard/  https://www.linkedin.com/company/homestrings/ ADB report by Eric/Homestrings on Promoting Remittance for Development Finance: https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/project-document/185098/48190-001-tacr-01.pdf VC4A (mentioned by Eric): https://vc4a.com/
70 minutes | 2 months ago
Episode 8: Caribbean migration in 2020 - intra/CARICOM and extra-regional trends, and the impact of the Venezuelan crisis
Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, with me your host Loksan Harley. Today, I have Jermaine Grant on the show, who joins us from his hometown of Georgetown, Guyana. Jermaine has been working in the field of migration for the past 10 years. Most recently he was a Technical Officer, working with Guyana's Minister of Citizenship - a role which involved advising his government on migration policy and programmes, especially in relation to support to Venezuelan migrants and refugees. Previously, Jermaine worked as a Programme Officer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), where he led the Caribbean interventions of the ACP-EU Migration Action programme, a technical assistance programme that I was fortunate enough to work with on several occasions. Jermaine coordinated the implementation of 13 migration-related technical assistance projects in support of governments and regional organisations across the Caribbean. And Jermaine has also had his own migration experience too, earning a Master's degree at the University of East Anglia in the UK as part of the Chevening Scholarship programme. Jermaine is a really unique character who both lives and breathes the Caribbean in all the region's richness and diversity, while also bringing a global perspective that's so important to working on migration issues. In our conversation, we touch on many aspects of Caribbean migration, including the main flows and trends, intra-regional migration, extra-regional migration, freedom of movement frameworks within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Eastern Caribbean (OECS), human trafficking, migrant smuggling, the Venezuelan crisis, and the potential of the Caribbean diaspora to contribute to the region's development. I highly recommend tuning in if only to enjoy that smooth Caribbean accent and to learn a few expressions of Guyanese Creole! Just a quick apology for the sound quality. We had some technical issues but these seem to have been resolved about 15 minutes in so please do persist. As always, I'd like to thank you for listening and hope you enjoy the show. And while I've got you, don't forget to subscribe to the mailing list on loksanharley.com/podcast. And share the podcast with your friends directly or via the socials, and review the podcast if your podcasting platform allows. Feel free to drop me a message too if you have any questions. Now without further ado, here's our conversation. Useful links ACP-EU Migration Action programme: https://acpeumigrationaction.iom.int/ End-of-programme publication of the ACP-EU Migration Action programme (written by yours truly!): https://acpeumigrationaction.iom.int/sites/default/files/acp_eu_migration_action_final_publication_web_small_final.pdf Chevening Scholarship: https://www.chevening.org/ Connect with Jermaine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jermainegy/
61 minutes | 2 months ago
Episode 7: The new EU Migration Pact - the definitive briefing with Timo from MPI Europe
Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a show in which we talk about anything and everything to do with migration; with me your host Loksan Harley. For today’s episode, I was joined by a rising star in the migration world, Timo Schmidt, to talk about the European Union’s brand-new Pact on Migration and Asylum, which was released on the 23 September by the European Commission. Timo works at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Europe, a Brussels-based think tank focused on migration and asylum policy. His areas of expertise are EU asylum and migration management, the linkages between development finance and migration, and migration forecasting. He has leveraged his experience to communicate evidence-based and practical research to policymakers and other key stakeholders, including the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Prior to joining MPI Europe, Timo worked in Jerusalem with the United Nations Development Programme’s Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People. Alongside the great work he’s doing at MPI, Timo is also Director and Co-producer of a documentary project on migration in Europe, Refugee Roads (refugeeroads.com), which I highly recommend checking out, as well as sitting on the Editorial Board of the Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration. And he’s an Oxford man himself, having obtained his Master’s there in migration studies. Consider this your very own one-hour briefing on the EU Migration Pact, which is a package of proposals of some 500 pages that aim to reform the continent’s migration and asylum system in light of the divergent views and interests among EU Member States on how to address the changing nature of migration and asylum flows. We try to cover everything from how the Pact differentiates the roles and responsibilities of Member States, allowing some to receive more migrants while ensuring others take more active roles in returning migrants. We talk about what “mandatory yet flexible” means in this regard, as well as the Pact’s new border procedure and how it aims to speed up asylum claims. Useful links The Migration Pact: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/promoting-our-european-way-life/new-pact-migration-and-asylum_en MPI’s analysis: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/eu-pact-migration-asylum-bold-move-avoid-abyss MPI Europe: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/mpi-europe Refugee Roads website: https://www.refugeeroads.com/ Refugee Roads trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCYP-pKIEz0&feature=emb_title Connect with Timo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timo-schmidt?originalSubdomain=be Follow Timo (@TimoASchmidt) and MPI (@MPI_Europe) Cheeky plug to my (unrelated) work with MPI: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/african-countries-relax-short-term-visa-policies-chinese
44 minutes | 3 months ago
Episode 6: Migration and strategic communications - can and should we try and influence migration decisions?
Welcome to today's episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a podcast about all things migration, with me your host Loksan Harley. Today I'm joined by Paul Clewett to discuss the fascinating topic of strategic communications and behavioural-based migration interventions. Paul is an independent consultant specialising in research, evaluation and operations in fragile states. After developing a passion for migration at the Migration Policy Institute in Brussels, he spent several years at Seefar, an international social enterprise, where he supported the development of its global migration, modern slavery and justice programming. Years of research in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Nigeria have convinced him that behavioural-based interventions have yet to realise their potential for protecting would-be irregular migrants. In today's interview, we discuss Paul's work in West and North Africa and the Middle East, where he has worked on communications campaigns that look at how migrants make their decisions and how those decisions can be influenced or better informed to affect outcomes on irregular migration and modern slavery. We also touch on some of the ethics surrounding these types of interventions, which appear to have become popular in the wake of the so-called European migration crisis. It really is a thought-provoking and important debate! As you'll hear in our interview, Paul is able to talk about a sometimes controversial subject while conveying the necessary nuance and candour. He's also able to draw from his diverse experiences working across different organisations and geographies, as well as his own experience as a migrant who now splits his time between his London and Mumbai bases. The only criticism I have of Paul is about his choice of football team as he unfortunately supports West Ham Football Club. Well, nobody is perfect. Thank you very much for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the interview. You can connect with Paul Clewett on Twitter (@PClewett) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclewett/).
56 minutes | 3 months ago
Episode 5: Children on the move in West and Central Africa - Context, vulnerabilities, and protection needs
Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, with me your host Loksan Harley. Today I have Amanda Azzali on the show to talk about children on the move (or child migration). Amanda is the Children on the Move Regional Advisor for West and Central Africa at Save the Children International, so she's really THE person to talk to on the topic. A few words about Amanda. She first studied pedagogy with a specialisation in The Reggio Emillia Approach, before going on to study International Relations and International Development. She then worked as part of a number of humanitarian crisis responses in the Middle East, Darfur, Uganda, and the Sahel, while also working in academia. She has been based in the beautiful city of Dakar, Senegal since 2009. As keen listeners of the podcast know, I've been trying my hardest to get a diversity of guests on the show to discuss a diversity of topics. So this is a first episode on children-on-the-move and a first that focuses on West and Central Africa - a region I know well from my work. There are some linkages with episode 3 on trafficking in persons so I recommending giving that a listen too. Amanda and I discuss a range of aspects of child migration in West and Central Africa, including the context of mixed migration flows against which child migration takes place, as well as why children move, how they move, the risks that they are exposed to, the impact of COVID-19, and how to provide protection, including what Save the Children are doing. And of course, we also touch on Amanda's own fascinating migration story, from her Italian-Mozambique background to her migration experiences across Europe and Africa, which have no doubt informed her understanding of migration. As always, thank you so much for listening and I hope you enjoy the show. Useful links Save the Children and the Mixed Migration Centre's publication, Young and on the Move in West Africa: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/young-and-move-west-africa Connect via LInkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-azzali-b51a7622/ Save the Children Senegal: https://senegal.savethechildren.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/savechildrenSN
60 minutes | 3 months ago
Episode 4: Critical next steps to achieving migrant remittances SDG Target 10.C - a conversation with Leon Isaacs ("Mr Remittances")
Hello and welcome to the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a podcast where we discuss all things related to migration, with me your host, Loksan Harley. I was very excited to be joined for today's episode by Leon Isaacs, CEO of Developing Markets Associates (DMA), which is a specialist international development company that he founded in 2007. Leon is a seasoned expert and business leader in the payments and international development fields with a particular expertise in migrant remittances. During the course of his 30-year career, Leon was Managing Director of the International Association of Money Transfer Networks, he has served as a member of the UK government's Remittances Task Force, and he is an observer to the G20 Consultative Committee of the Private-Public Sector Partnership on Remittances. Leon has spoken at and chaired numerous international conferences on remittances including at the World Bank, the United Nations and the G8. He has also been involved in two successful start-up remittance businesses. He is an economist by training and currently based in France - and he joined us from his home in sunny Provence (of which I was very jealous). Leon is someone I very respectfully refer to as "Mr Remittances". He really lives and breathes the topic. He's also one of the best communicators I know, with an incredible ability to explain technical issues in an accessible and engaging way. His blend of public and private sector experiences also gives him a unique and very practical perspective. I was excited to get him on the show because remittances are such a critical aspect of how migration and how migrants can contribute to development. Consciousness of remittances and their importance has grown in recent years, so much so that they have their dedicated SDG Target 10.C, which is to reduce to less than 3% transaction costs of migrant remittances. In our wide-ranging conversation, we talk about both the big picture and learnings from Leon and DMA's recent work, including how COVID has impacted remittances, the key remittances challenges facing small and fragile states, diaspora investment, and some of the impacts of new technology. We close with Leon's take on the three things we need to focus on in order to achieve Target 10.C. And of course, we managed to slip in a bit of banter about football, since Leon is a passionate fan of Watford FC (well, no one is perfect!). Thank you very  much for tuning in and we hope you enjoy the interview. Useful links DMA: https://www.global-dma.com/meet-the-team LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonisaacs/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-global-ltd/ Twitter: @DMA_tweet @leon_dma SDG 10: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal10  Episode 2 on diaspora engagement: https://www.loksanharley.com/podcast/episode/f9e3585d/episode-2-doing-diaspora-lessons-learned-from-dr-martin-russells-diaspora-engagement-work-worldwide  Thanks for listening! Head on over to loksanharley.com/podcast, where you can subscribe to the mailing list and get in touch!
57 minutes | 3 months ago
Episode 3: Studying trafficking in persons in South Sudan - our findings and lessons learned along the way
Welcome to today's episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a podcast about all things migration, with me your host Loksan Harley. I'm delighted to see that we're averaging almost 100 plays per week at the moment, with viewers tuning in from across the world - from the US and the UK to Angola, Botswana, Egypt and Grenada. Thanks to you all for continuing to share the podcast with your networks! On today's episode we discuss a research study that I carried out for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) into trafficking in persons in South Sudan. I was lucky to be joined for this episode by my IOM project manager, Fitriana Nur (Programme Coordinator) - or "Ana",  whom I worked side by side with to design and execute the study. Ana has 12 years of experience managing international development and counter-trafficking projects both in her native Indonesia and overseas, notably in the Middle East and now East Africa. Ana has worked on a range of projects, including policy advocacy and capacity development, in addition to conducting research - often in very challenging and conflict-hit contexts like South Sudan. Our discussion touches on the various themes of the research. It's well worth a listen if you're interested in learning how to conduct research on human trafficking in a complex context like South Sudan, which has unfortunately faced a number of conflict and governance challenges in its short history since becoming independent from Sudan in 2011. In addition to talking about our methodology and the national context, we talk about the main forms of trafficking in South Sudan, the current counter-trafficking response, and some of the recommendations that we developed to strengthen that response and better protect victims of trafficking. As a very important disclaimer, please note that the views expressed in this podcast episode are our own personal reflections and do not represent the views of IOM or the UK government. Feel free to get in touch at loksanharley.com/podcast if you have any further questions. Thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy listening! Useful links: Link to the full study: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/20200724%20TiP%20full%20report%20low%20resolution.pdf Connect with Ana: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fitriana-nur-a8a0834/ IOM South Sudan: https://southsudan.iom.int/
59 minutes | 4 months ago
Episode 2: "Doing diaspora" - lessons learned from Dr Martin Russell's diaspora engagement work worldwide
Welcome to today's show which is jointly presented by Doing Diaspora, a YouTube interview series by The Networking Institute, and The Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a podcast hosted by me, Loksan Harley, where we discuss all things migration. Today I was delighted to interview Dr Martin Russell. Martin completed his PhD on Diaspora Strategies & Conflict Transformation at the Clinton Institute (University College Dublin) where his work focused on diaspora networks, media, philanthropy and politics. He was also a visiting fellow at UNU-MERIT and is currently an advisor with The Networking Institute which provides teaching, training, and consultancy on networking, philanthropy and fundraising, public speaking, and diaspora engagement. Martin sits on the Executive Leadership Council of the Silicon Valley-based African Diaspora Network and the Advisory Board of Ireland Reaching Out. His vision and passion for the next few years is to establish Ireland as the global centre of excellence in the teaching, training and researching of diaspora engagement. He is quietly confident Ireland will get there! Outside work, you are most likely to find him in London supporting his favourite football team, Tottenham Hotspur, or having a beer with friends trying to get over the disappointment of said football team! I really enjoyed my chat with Martin. He is one of the few visionaries I've come across in the migration and diaspora field. In our conversation, we touch on some of the definitional issues of diaspora engagement, its intersections with philanthropy and networking, and some lessons learned from his work and our work together (especially with respect to governments). We also talk about how Ireland has been so successful in making so many people around the world "feel Irish" and engage with the country in so many impactful ways.  I've been working with Martin a lot lately and often refer to him as Mr Diaspora, although, as you'll hear from this interview, his work connects to some much bigger themes. Unfortunately podcasts don't come with subtitles so I wish you luck in understanding his wonderful Irish accent. Without further ado, here is our interview. We hope you enjoy listening. Useful links Martin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-russell-0530131a5/ The Networking Institute: https://thenetworkinginstitute.com/ Watch the episode on YouTube (part of The Networking Institute's Doing Diaspora series): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcUT1HxH7zU Powerful Diaspora Engagement: 10 Tips for Government: https://www.loksanharley.com/post/powerful-diaspora-engagement-10-tips-for-government If you're not sick of hearing Martin and I talk about diaspora, you can watch another discussion we recorded on YouTube: https://www.loksanharley.com/post/doing-diaspora Thanks for listening! Head on over to loksanharley.com/podcast, where you can subscribe to the mailing list and get in touch!
63 minutes | 4 months ago
Episode 1: Discussing China-Africa migration with Hannah Ryder and Development Reimagined
Welcome to today's episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a podcast about all things migration, with me your host Loksan Harley, and boy do we have a show for you today! Today I was joined by a good friend of mine, and seriously one the most inspiring and hardworking people I know, Hannah Ryder. Hannah is the CEO and founder of Development Reimagined, a pioneering international development consultancy in China. Development Reimagined advises Chinese businesses how to invest in Africa sustainably; they advise sustainable African businesses on how to enter the Chinese market; and they work with governments, UN bodies and NGOs to strengthen their China–Africa policies. Development Reimagined also happens to be the first Kenyan Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise in China - a marvellous achievement I'm sure you'll agree. Hannah is a former diplomat and economist, and her understanding of international relations was honed as one of the youngest negotiators for the UK in climate change talks. With close to 20 years of experience, she is also Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic International Studies, and sits on the Executive Board of the British Chamber of Commerce in China. Hannah has won several awards for leadership in China and Africa as well as for her contributions to gender and racial diversity and youth development. She's also played various advisory roles for the UN, and is regularly cited in and invited to write/talk on a number of Chinese, African and global media outlets like Bloomberg, Quartz Africa, the Diplomat, the Guardian, and CGTN . You need only to Google "Hannah Ryder" or "Development Reimagined" to discover the extraordinary breadth of her work. Hannah and I met while she was head of the United Nations Development Programme's Policy team in China, and we had so many common areas of interest, as many of you listening may recall that I've lived and worked across Africa and China, and China-Africa relations are a huge passion and research interest of mine. I also have great admiration for Hannah and her team's work to collect and share data widely and in an accessible way on China-Africa-related topics, including on some migration issues. Hannah was therefore the ideal guest to talk about China-Africa migration. In our fascinating talk we touched on Hannah's migration experience as an entrepreneur in China. We talk about some of the trends of Africa-to-China migration and the challenges and opportunities faced by African migrants in China, including in the context of COVID-19. We also talk about China-to-Africa migration, which is a topic some of you may know I've written about too for the Migration Policy Institute. If anyone has any questions about today's podcast, then feel free to get in touch with either of us via our websites which you can find in the show notes. Thank you very much for tuning in and we hope you enjoy the show. Useful links  Development Reimagined: www.developmentreimagined.com Twitter: @devreimagined @hmryder Book recommendation: China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, by Howard W. French  Development Reimagined's analysis of African student migration: https://developmentreimagined.com/2020/09/08/where-africans-study-abroad-post-covid19/ Some of my recent research on African visa requirements for Chinese nationals: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/african-countries-relax-short-term-visa-policies-chinese Thanks for listening! Feel free to visit loksanharley.com/podcast, where you can subscribe to the mailing list and get in touch! 
2 minutes | 4 months ago
The Migration & Diaspora Podcast: Season 1 trailer
Hello and welcome to the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, with me your host, Loksan Harley. I'm starting this podcast to bring people together to discuss anything and everything related to the movement of people. I was inspired to start this podcast after sitting through many many webinars during the COVID-19 pandemic. I felt many of these events could have been audio recordings - recordings that you could listen to in the car, on your morning jog, or at the breakfast table. While locked down, I also reflected on a different way to connect and engage with people working on and living the topic. So here we are. For each episode, I will interview people who are doing something interesting related to migration. And when I say migration, I mean anything related to the movement of human beings (for any bird watchers out there, this show is not for you!). Topics will range from the many positive aspects of migration - how it contributes to development, how migrants and diaspora communities enrich the societies of the places they live and the places they're from - to the negative aspects - issues of forced displacement, human trafficking, and the smuggling of migrants. We'll look at small projects and individual experiences. and then try to relate them to the big questions, such as how do we manage migration for the benefit of all? How do we stop people from being forced into moving? How can countries engage their diaspora communities? And many more. And who am I, you might be asking. I'm an independent migration analyst and consultant with a few years of experience working for governments, international organisations and NGOs ; and I've also spent much of my life living as a migrant and diaspora member myself. You can find out more about the podcast and how you can get involved by visiting my website at loksanharley.com/podcast. Don't forget to subscribe via the website or your preferred podcasting platform. Thank you so much for listening and I hope you enjoy the podcast.
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