Diaspora Forum To Embark On Business Initiatives

The resolution was passed at the just ended Diaspora conference held in the Victoria Falls. Delegates drafted proposals to strengthen Diaspora networks and boost their ability to contribute to economic recovery and development particularly in social services, investment, governance, human rights and rural development.

Moyo said DFZ aimed to tap into the rich Diaspora community to develop ways through which those living outside the country could help rebuild their country.

“The DFZ believes that an economic recovery strategy that emphasises the return of skills must have a clear agenda,” he said.

He added that the call for Zimbabweans to return home must be accompanied by appropriate policies aimed at absorbing these skills through a range of government programmes, alongside creative solutions developed by those in the Diaspora.

Moyo said it was vital to underscore the point that in an age of technological advancement, returning home can take various forms beyond the physical movement of persons. He said returning home can be through the Diaspora deploying their financial investments in the home market.

He said the Diaspora experience had given skills to many and had also de-skilled as many. Teachers, nurses and other professionals had been forced into menial jobs in order to survive, yet other citizens had furthered their education whilst outside the country.

He said the DFZ hoped that these groups may wish to make voluntary or temporary, virtual or permanent returns to help shore up the skills base in the Zimbabwean public service or other sectors of the economy.

Moyo said this patriotic desire was not tied to partisan political interests but to the love for Zimbabwe and the belief in the country’s potential to be a truly great African nation and global icon.

The conference brought together business leaders, civic society, politicians and Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora, run under the theme “Engaging the Diaspora toward Zimbabwe’s Economic Reconstruction “.

Among other issues, the conference facilitated the formation of an institutional framework that will support effective contributions to and participation in economic recovery by Zimbabweans living abroad, and provided a platform for opinion leaders and implementers to discuss the role of the Diaspora. The conference is the first in a series of high profile meetings which will continue to consider ways in which the Diaspora and key plays within Zimbabwe can work together to promote development. An estimated 4,5 million Zimbabweans live outside the country and the majority of them are believed to be in South Africa.