The Migration Policy Institute's Migrants, Migration, and Development Program is pleased to share the second in an ongoing series of studies on the role of diasporas in development policy undertaken in cooperation with the US Agency for International Development's Diaspora Networks Alliance. The report, Connected through Service: Diaspora Volunteers and Global Development, discusses how diasporas undertake volunteer work in their countries of origin, as well as the policy implications for USAID in its attempt to enlist diaspora volunteers in international development activities. 

The key findings of the study by MPI Policy Analyst Aaron Terrazas include:

• About 1 million Americans volunteer abroad each year, including nearly 200,000 immigrants and their children.

• Diasporas often have the connections, language skills, social knowledge, and personal drive to volunteer outside of organized programs, but many also volunteer through existing programs.

• Many volunteer programs target highly skilled diaspora volunteers to provide advice to entrepreneurs and business owners, build public health or higher education capacity, assist post-conflict reconstruction and recovery, or provide public policy advice.

• Other volunteer programs are designed to attract diaspora youth -- often from the second generation -- to work in grassroots community groups, similar to the US Peace Corps.

• USAID and other international development programs already rely informally on diaspora volunteers, and as the skilled migrant population grows and the number of US youth with immigrant parents increases, the potential pool of diaspora volunteers is expected to expand significantly.

This research has been developed in partnership with USAID's Diaspora Networks Alliance and with the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and is the outcome of original research and stakeholder consultations held by USAID and MPI over the past year. This report is the second in a series of studies examining the role of diasporas in development policy.

To read the study, please click here.