The Pull of ‘Home’: Understanding Diaspora Participation in Development Projects in their Country of Origin

Diaspora are increasingly recognised as central to sustainable development processes. As such, it is important to understand how institutions can best engage these individuals, but little is known about diaspora’s motives for engaging in development projects. Using an International Organisation for Migration (IOM) programme, Connecting Diaspora for Development (CD4D) as a case study, this thesis examines interaction between institutions and diaspora in order to illustrate diaspora’s motives to participate in such a programme. Data was gathered by conducting interviews with CD4D staff and diaspora participants. The analysis of the institutiondiaspora relationship found that CD4D effectively harnessed diaspora engagement through connecting them to development projects in their country of origin and supplying necessary resources but then taking a more passive stance. Granting diaspora this agency meant they were able to conduct knowledge transfer without interference and build long-lasting bonds with their host institutions after the initial project is complete. Diaspora motivations for engaging in such a sustainable development programme centred on past and ongoing ties to their country of origin. Given existing theories often discount the perspectives and agency of individual diaspora, a new theory was inductively derived that focuses on diaspora themselves in explaining sustainable development processes. As such, placing individual diaspora at the centre of these processes ensures tailored policy and maximises the potential for knowledge transfer and sustainable development.