Supporting Africa's regional integration: the African diaspora -Prototype pan-Africanists or parochial village-aiders?: executive summary

Abstract

The paper first takes a brief look at the African diaspora in historical perspective and its relation with pan-Africanist ideas and ideals. Then the paper presents some data on the numbers and types of Africans in the UK as a way of contextualising the contemporary African diaspora. The next section focuses on African diaspora organisations in the UK, again to provide a frame for understanding contemporary diaspora issues. The following section provides an examination of the context for the current topic by focusing on the challenges presented to Africa by forces and processes of globalisation as well as failures of existing development co-operation. The paper then looks at a possible framework within which to consider diaspora engagement in policy arenas – from the UK and from Africa – as they pertain to Africa’s development as well as potential contradictions to be addressed. Finally, the paper concludes with some pointers towards action agendas that we might pursue. The appendix contains background on AFFORD.