Integration and Development: Need for Dialogue

This PRIO Paper examines how the integration experiences of migrants and their descendants in settlement countries affect development processes in countries of origin. We review eight specific conduits for diaspora contributions to development, including remittance-sending, voting and activism, and participation in official development cooperation.

Each of these mechanisms are intertwined with integration experiences, and potentially shaped by policy measures in both countries of settlement and of origin. Evidence from across different countries points in one direction: links between migrants’ engagement in development in countries of origin and integration processes in countries of settlement exist – and they matter.

Therefore, recognition of the roles for policy in proactively affecting the interplay of migrants’ development engagements in countries of origin and their integration processes in countries of settlement is needed. There is a need for dialogue, and policy coherence, where policy concerns in the fields of integration, development and migration management intersect.