Originally launched by the Office of Global Partnerships in 2016, Diaspora Voices is an interactive virtual event series that gives diaspora organizations the ability to engage with top diplomats about the challenges directly affecting their communities and opens the dialogue for opportunities to work with the U.S. Department of State to address them.
As part of the State Department’s emphasis on developing Foreign Policy for the Middle Class, Diaspora Voices works to incorporate underrepresented perspectives in the work of diplomacy and international development. The renewed Diaspora Voices series will focus on specific policy issues and priorities, beginning with the topic of climate change, to directly engage the communities facing these challenges head on.
Diaspora Voices relaunched in Summer 2022 with a series of conversations about climate change, with the aim to engage diaspora thoughts, concerns, and ideas as we prepare for COP27 in Egypt in late 2022. The first event of this year’s multi-part series was hosted on World Oceans Day and aimed to address climate change and our oceans, highlighting current efforts by diaspora organizations to mitigate the harmful effects on communities. The second event examined diasporas’ role in food security and sustainability, both in their countries of origin/heritage and of residence.
- Diaspora Voices: Protecting Our Oceans (June 2022)
- Diaspora Voices: Food Security and Sustainability (August 2022)
Past Diaspora Voices videos can be found using the links below: