Diasporas, Dialogues Development: Tapping Potential for Change
Joanna Ashworth, SFU Centre for Sustainable Community Development, 604.317.9202; joanna_ashworth@sfu.ca
Shaheen Nanji, Director, International Development, SFU International, 778.782.5576; shaheen_nanji@sfu.ca
Simon Fraser University is launching a two-year public dialogue series focusing on Vancouver’s dispora communities – those that retain a sense of attachment to their places of origin around the world and have the potential to contribute to the development of those towns, villages and cities.
The aim is to bring the Canadian public and leaders of diaspora communities together to tap into this potential for change.
The launch (media are welcome) will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m. at SFU Vancouver’s Harbour Centre campus at the Teck Gallery.
“These are innovative leaders who’ve done everything from building schools in Pakistan and funding education in Namibia and Southern Sudan, to organizing Haitian relief and supporting peace in Darfur,” says Joanna Ashworth, co-director of the project. “These dialogues will explore current initiatives, critically examining their impact, and the vast potential of diasporic-driven development.”
Shaheen Nanji, co-director of the SFU project, adds that the dialogues “recognize the potential of the diaspora with their local knowledge of the community, to contribute to social, economic and ecological development. This phenomenon is gaining attention internationally but there is much yet to be explored.”
The dialogues, organized around the UN Millennium Development Goals, will focus on initiatives that address poverty reduction and economic growth, health, education, peace and human security and diasporic contributions to development. An interdisciplinary advisory group of SFU faculty, graduate students and community leaders provide guidance and input.
The public dialogues and leadership workshops begin in January 2011. Diaspora leaders are invited to send their stories to info-diaspora@sfu.ca.
Funding support provided by the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and presented in partnership with Simon Fraser University, CUSO-VSO and the BC Council for International Education.
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