The Diaspora movement, and especially the Kenya Diaspora Alliance (KDA) traces its roots to the reform efforts dating back to the early 1990′s during which time the Diaspora became more actively involved in their home country affairs. KDA in partnership with its affiliates, including the Diaspora Investment Club (DICL), has always championed issues on behalf of Kenyans living abroad as a Federation of scores of registered diaspora organizations.
There has been a lot of pressure by the Kenyan Diaspora community to put the Governments’ of the day in check with pressure to appreciate that all Kenyans, regardless of their physical location, have inalienable rights to inclusion, representation and participation in national affairs. This is our goal and commitment.
A major achievement in our landscape was the development and launch of the Kenya Diaspora Policy in 2014. The Policy was developed in recognition of the urgent need to mainstream the Kenyan Diaspora into national development processes in line with the aspirations and goals of the Kenya’s Vision 2030 which recognizes Diaspora contributions as a critical component to the growth of the economy, and also towards the achievement of our overarching vision of a globally competitive and prosperous Kenya by the year 2030. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) sought the inputs of Diaspora communities such as ours in the development of the Diaspora Policy.
Diaspora hope for clarity in the institutional make-up for implementing the Policy with the hope to include sufficient representation of the Diaspora. We encourage all Diaspora Kenyans and their over 1,000 organizations to contribute to the building of progressive Diaspora programs that can ensure that the estimated 3 million Diaspora Kenyans become part and parcel of the social, political, economic and cultural fabric of Kenya.
The Partners, KDA, DICL and Eclectics Group recognized the centrality of a first-class portal to facilitate greater, effective and strategic engagement with and between various Diaspora formations, individuals and partners. While acknowledging with appreciation existence of a number of portals operated by both state and non-state actors targeting the Diaspora, the gap for a comprehensive, all-embracing common ‘market place for business and ideas’ tailored to the needs of the diverse stakeholders remained evident.
Hence the design, development and unveiling of this Portal in 2017, following broad consultations and rigorous requirements capture and analysis. The drafters are under no illusion that this is a ‘one size fits all solution’, but it should be a major cog on the growing and complex wheel for Diaspora engagement and mainstreaming.
