ABSTRACT
The positioning of diasporas as development agents by policymakers and development cooperation bodies has been met with both scepticism and interest from the stakeholders involved, including diasporas themselves. Within the wider movement to incorporate diasporas into development planning and execution, there has been a recent emphasis on leveraging the unique resources of the diaspora to support private sector development (generally in countries of origin) and to stimulate trade flows between countries of (ancestral) origin and residence. This chapter explores the pathways through which diasporas may be expected to stimulate and sustain trade and the underlying growth in the private sector ecosystems that enable trade. It also addresses the strategies and interventions designed by states and development cooperation actors to support diasporas to act as accelerators of trade—as well as the controversies around those strategies.
