Delivery is the test that will decide whether US-Africa philanthropy actually works, and the African diaspora sits at the center of that delivery system. That is the operational picture that emerged from this year’s U.S.-Africa Futures Summit, where Semhar Araia, CEO of The Diaspora Academy, served as a panellist and came away with what she describes as a clearer charge and a stronger sense of urgency to reform how US-Africa relations have been approached with diasporas, and to act more boldly than before.
The summit’s practical takeaway, in her account, was clarity and confidence about what is possible in this moment and what must be done to reimagine US-Africa relations. The relationship, she argues, sits at a serious inflection point, and diasporas will remain a critical stakeholder in what gets built and delivered on both sides of the Atlantic. That requires bold, future-facing thinking and more honesty about the economic and political role African diasporas play. More partnerships with different African diaspora constituencies in the United States will be needed to respond to today’s challenges, which means engaging the diaspora as a core constituency, demographic and market, beyond the familiar frame of remittances and donations.
The delivery machinery already exists, and it is more varied than conventional metrics capture. Diasporas are not a monolith, and the African diaspora has multiple entry points for engagement with Africa. Araia sketches the range: the first-generation civil society advocate running a national advocacy campaign from a mobile phone; the second-generation Gen Z diaspora member accessing opportunities to give back, invest and advocate; and the multi-generational descendant of African migrants, including of the forcibly enslaved, relocating to Africa to invest in the local economy and create jobs. Each operates through a different channel. Each represents a distinct delivery pathway that institutions can either work with or ignore.
Remittances remain the most visible flow. They are a consistent source of support, regularly surpassing total official development assistance, and a new IFAD report puts remittances to the continent alone at $125 billion. But Araia is direct about the limits of that number: remittances are not the primary indicator of a diaspora’s willingness to give, invest, partner or activate. They are only the tip of the diaspora partnerships iceberg. The operational questions she poses for institutions are pointed. Can we look at the African diaspora in the United States with nuance and specificity, based on the needs and opportunities we hope to respond to? Will public and private sector partners be willing and ready to recognise this influence and cultivate, steward and build meaningful diaspora partnerships to support Africa’s growth? Will partners offer incentives that actually speak to the interests of diaspora advocates, donors and investors?
On the African side, the institutional infrastructure for diaspora engagement is already in place and, by her account, paying off. The African Union recognises the African diaspora as its Sixth Region. At least 25 African countries have specific diaspora policies and positions, and more than one-third of the continent has dedicated offices for diaspora engagement. Multiple countries offer working examples of diaspora opportunities to support the homeland, including Rwanda, Nigeria, Ghana, Eritrea, Senegal, Benin, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Cabo Verde.
Meanwhile, the informal delivery network runs just as deep, and in crisis conditions it is often the first to move. Diasporas are first responders, Araia writes, the first to deliver emergency assistance, respond to crisis, and create innovative ways to deliver support in difficult circumstances or operating environments. In Sudan and Somalia, diaspora-funded Emergency Response Rooms and humanitarian response groups used innovative approaches, including mutual aid, WhatsApp and other tools, to reach communities in need.
A fuller treatment of the summit’s argument is available at https://www.alliancemagazine.org/blog/engaging-the-african-diaspora-in-the-future-of-us-africa-philanthropy/.
There is also a vulnerability dimension that bears directly on whether these partnerships can function. The African diaspora in the United States is experiencing a particularly vulnerable moment, which demands attention and care when building partnerships. Despite longstanding contributions and influence, America’s current political climate is putting Black immigrant communities in a precarious position. The travel ban, TPS cancellations and recent federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota and throughout the country have had a disproportionate effect on African diasporas, with reports of racialised targeting, detention and abuse, kidnapping and forced removals. Communities are being asked to invest in the future of two continents while defending their place in one of them, and diaspora leaders cannot do this work fully without feeling safe, protected and supported.
For philanthropy, Araia argues, that means doubling down on Black-led organisations, especially the Black immigrant and Black diaspora groups supporting communities here and there. For institutions ready to move, she outlines three steps that make the partnership real: integrate diaspora partnerships into U.S.-Africa strategies so the diaspora becomes a designed-in partner rather than an afterthought; invest in diaspora partners and the organisations that support them; and develop innovative partnership approaches that incentivise and protect diaspora impact, both here and there, across the formal and informal channels where that impact already lives.
The summit set the stage for envisioning future US-Africa frameworks. Reaching shared goals for peace, economic growth and good governance, Araia concludes, will clearly require African diasporas to be part of that partnership. The open question now is whether institutions will build them in from the start.