Soft power of the diaspora

Victoria Dunford was 21 when she left Moldova to study in England for one year. She intended to return home afterwards, but things turned out differently. Dunford got married and still lives on the Isle of Wight in southern England. "I spend all my holidays in Moldova," she says. Dunford didn’t just remain attached to her home country; she also decided to make it a better place.

In 2012, she founded the nongovernmental organisation MAD-Aid which started off by transporting discarded hospital equipment from the United Kingdom to Moldova. Since then, she has also set up a centre for children with disabilities and an old people’s home for which she has received an award from the Moldovan government.

Dunford is not an isolated case. Large numbers of Moldovans left their country after it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The lack of decent job and education opportunities, high inflation, poor infrastructure and corruption have been some of the reasons. About a third of the population lives abroad and is spread across more than 30 countries. The exodus has also been spurred in part by the fact that Moldovans can acquire a Romanian passport which makes it easier to settle in the EU.

It's a vicious circle: large numbers of people leave the country because they lack career prospects, but this in turn exacerbates the shortage of skilled labour and hinders the country’s economic development.

The Migration and Development project which the SDC has implemented together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Republic of Moldova since 2013 hopes to reverse this trend. The third phase of the project commenced this year. It seeks to strengthen the cohesion between local communities, members of the diaspora, returnees and the local administration. "The most important lesson learnt is that to make a difference it is essential to involve the diaspora in the development of their country," says Radu Danii at the SDC cooperation office in Moldova. "Moldovans are very attached to their homeland. Almost all of them have left behind most of their family."

Dorin Toma of UNDP also views this as an opportunity. "The diaspora is very keen to support and invest in their home country." And not just through remittances which according to World Bank estimates account for about 35% of the GDP.

In 2015, UNDP initiated the setting up of Hometown Associations under the SDC project. Their purpose is to connect members of the diaspora with the local community they grew up in and involve them in local development initiatives. As a first step, comprehensive databases were established which allowed local governments to obtain information about Moldovans living abroad and to contact them. Subsequently, a big PR campaign was rolled out to motivate Moldovan emigrants to set up similar associations in their home communities through direct contact with the local mayor or local authorities.

"The underlying notion is that the diaspora comes up with ideas and expertise and is able to actively participate in local decision-making in the process," explains Toma. "It gives them the feeling that they are part of the solution." However, it also means that local authorities are no longer helpless observers of emigration. They can get actively involved to change the situation.

There are 170 such hometown associations across the country today, and about 200 projects that benefit the local population have already been implemented. They range from footpaths, children's playgrounds and improved water supply to cultural activities and tourist infrastructure. The projects were funded largely by members of the diaspora and local authorities. Any shortfall was funded through the SDC project or crowdfunding.

Victoria Dunford was a member of a hometown association from the start. She has helped in greening a park and upgrading pedestrian infrastructure in the small community of Mihaileni in the northern part of the country, where the rest of her family still lives. She is also a consultant to the Alliance of Hometown Associations, an initiative supported by the SDC and UNDP to bring the existing associations together under one umbrella to give them greater visibility.

"The involvement of civil society slowly but steadily creates conditions for people to want to stay in the country or even return," says Dunford. She firmly believes that the change must come from the Moldovans themselves.