-
Somalia’s Diaspora should continue investing in businesses not AID
The American Refugee Committee has announced that it will be setting up in Somalia. I’m acquainted with some members of the Internally Displaced Somali Advisory Council that is partnering with the ARC on this project, and think it laudable that the process has involved much consultation and partnership. It is this success that suggests the potential to do a lot more, if different work, in future.
This isn’t a lack of appreciation for the great work the ARC has done, and is proposing to do. However, considering the goodwill and resources available, it may be time to consider turning the page on a long history of aid to Somalia, and deploying these resources there in other ways.
ARC director, Daniel Wordsworth, acknowledges that Somalis abroad have continued to support their country through its difficult times. Yusuf Ali, from the Advisory Council, says that his family and friends, even those who earn minimum wage abroad, send as much money as they can to Somalia.
Some of this money is no doubt channeled into family consumption, but as the New York Times reports, more than 80 percent of small businesses in Somalia are funded by Diaspora remittances. The article values these annual remittances at up to $1 billion, or about 18 percent of Somalia’s GDP.
The ARC plans to work out of the safer North, in areas like Garoowe, Galkaayo and Boosaaso, and it is especially there, in following the example set by the country’s Diaspora in funding small businesses, that may be found the potential for a revision in future intervention. The energy that today raises hundreds of thousands in aid-dollars may be a pool for the startup capital for several hundred businesses, scaling up the effect of individual remittances and developing the structures for commerce and industry that would free many families from a dependence on aid.Read more about the initiative here.
-Nekessa
-
-
swirlspice liked this
-
mylowercase posted this
-
