Since 2020, the Global Diaspora Virtual Exchanges stand as a unique and crucial platform, facilitating the global convergence of diasporas to exchange best practices and collaboratively enhance their engagement, empowerment, and enablement. This initiative serves as a catalyst, empowering diaspora leaders and organizations to actively contribute to development endeavors. 

In the past three editions, the Global Diaspora Virtual Exchanges have underscored the increasingly crucial role of diaspora leaders and organizations as pivotal contributors to development and humanitarian efforts. In 2020, diasporas demonstrated their swift and effective response to the pandemic. Shifting focus in 2021, their efforts centered on providing concrete advice to address three key challenges: building trust, mobilizing resources, and ensuring sustainability. The dialogue in 2023 revolved around discussing strategies to enhance communication skills in project management. 

These dialogues, engaging diaspora leaders, policymakers, academics, and youth, have been instrumental in establishing an ecosystem aimed at maximizing diaspora engagement. Partnerships forged during these exchanges have facilitated the sharing of best practices, the provision of specific guidance, the expansion of impact through connections, and the amplification of voices for diaspora initiatives, including the founding of the Global Diaspora Confederation (GDC). Nonetheless, the importance of further strengthening and deepening partnerships between diasporas and other key actors continues to recur as key element in the evolution of diaspora engagement globally. 

The establishment of a multi-stakeholder platform aligns closely with the foundational principles outlined in the Dublin Declaration, the outcome document of the Global Diaspora Summit, as well as the insights gathered from the discussions during the Global Diaspora Week 2023, organized by the GDC, and focused on diaspora partnerships. Building on these conversations and conclusions, the Global Diaspora Virtual Exchanges will delve deeper into partnerships between diaspora leaders and various key stakeholder groups. These groups include the public sector, both at national and local levels, the private sector, and collaborations among diaspora organizations. Each session is designed to explore effective and ineffective aspects of collaboration within each type, aiming to unlock the full potential of diaspora contributions to development and humanitarian efforts. The objective is to align seamlessly with the vision outlined in the Dublin Declaration, striving for impactful and sustainable outcomes. This alignment is achieved through the strategic harnessing of collective diaspora strength and expertise. 

Global Diaspora Virtual Exchange consists of a series of three sessions in April, May and June. Learn more about future exchanges and register here.