IOM Holds Workshop to Promote the Engagement of Women in the Diaspora for the Development of Tanzania
The two-day workshop will take place in Zanzibar on 25th and 26th June 2014. It will explore a number of topics, including the organization of women in the Diaspora, their contributions in the form of knowledge and skills transfer as well as remittances, current challenges and priorities for women in the Diaspora and how their contributions to development in Tanzania can be maximized. IOM will co-facilitate the training with a number of members of the inter-ministerial task force (which includes Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of Home Affairs), who have previously attended IOM’s training of trainers on migration and development in January 2014. “IOM support and initiatives will increase the capacity of the Tanzanian Government to reach out its Diaspora, to raise the visibility of the existing data and to involve women in the development of our country” said the Deputy Director of the Department of Diaspora Engagement and Opportunities.
It is also an opportunity for participants, including private sector agencies, government ministries and academia, to draw up strategies on how to encourage further engagement of women Diaspora in the country’s development. “Women’s empowerment helps raise economic productivity and reduce infant mortality. It contributes to improved health and nutrition. It increases the chances of education for the next generation” states the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a recent report on development and gender. The workshop will be officially opened by the Deputy Director of the Department of Diaspora Engagement and Opportunities (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) and by the IOM Tanzania Chief of Mission.
The project “Enhancing the Migration Evidence Base for the Development of Tanzania” follows the Government of Tanzania’s request for IOM’s technical and financial support to promote enhanced coordination amongst ministries on migration matters, to undertake a comprehensive migration profile, to enhance the understanding of approaches to Diaspora engagement and to support the creation of a Diaspora web site. The project is funded through IOM’s International Development Fund (IDF) and it was s formally launched in January 2014.
For more information, please contact Mia Immelback at IOM Tanzania. Tel. +255 (0)688 53 73 25. Email: mimmelback@iom.int