Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie, MBE, Director, Up!-Africa Limited; and Finau Heuifanga Limuloa, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Pacific Office, Suva.
Migrant-and refugee-led organisations implement innovative, small-scale, low-cost projects that are potentially replicable and scalable. Because of their close connections, these multicultural communities have high levels of contextual knowledge and access to vulnerable populations. However, policymakers have only just begun to appreciate the powerful role that migrant-and refugee-led organisations might play in Australian development efforts.

In this public seminar following on from the inaugural Disaporas in Action Conference in Melbourne, Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie MBE drew on his 30 years of experience in advancing diaspora engagement with government, NGOs and the private sector in the UK to identify possible ways forward for collaboration with diasporas in Australia. Finau Limuloa reflected on how Australia’s contributions to development and humanitarian response in the Pacific might be enhanced by leveraging the unique strengths, knowledge and people-to-people connections of diasporas.