DIASDEV – Diaspora and Development

Diaspora remittances play a crucial role in the financing of African countries. Indeed, remittances are an important source of foreign currencies for these countries through the funds sent by migrants working abroad, which contribute to strengthening foreign exchange reserves and stabilising the balance of payments. Remittances also have a direct effect on poverty reduction, and can act as an economic stimulus by directly injecting funds into local communities.

There has been a rapid increase in remittances to Africa in recent years. In 2023, they are estimated to have reached $669 billion. Less than one tenth of this financial windfall ($54 billion) goes to Sub-Saharan Africa, yet it has huge financing needs, as is the case in some North African countries. It is therefore important for Sub-Saharan African countries to set up mechanisms to enable them to increase diaspora remittances and thereby derive the maximum possible benefit from them.

The DIASDEV project is the result of the dual partnership, firstly between AFD Group, Expertise France and the French Caisse des Dépôts, and secondly between the Forum des Caisses des Dépôts (which includes the Caisses des Dépôts in Europe and Africa) and the Forum of Diasporas.

It aims to help the Caisses des Dépôts et Consignations (CDCs) in Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Senegal and Tunisia, and their institutional partners, develop or improve savings and investment services for their diasporas, with a view to increasing the mobilisation of external resources.

Under this project, Expertise France is providing technical assistance to the relevant CDCs, depending on the level of maturity of each institution, the national context, and the priorities of their respective national development plans.

The DIASDEV project is based on three main complementary lines of action:

1. Development of new savings products: two feasibility studies will be conducted on the creation of a diaspora savings product for the Caisse des Dépôts et de Développement of Mauritania, and a common product for the CDCs in Benin and Senegal. The studies will cover the regulatory and prudential aspects, as well as the design of the savings product.

2. Improvement of existing savings products: two studies will be conducted to improve the effectiveness of existing diaspora savings products for the CDCs in Côte d’Ivoire and Tunisia. They will comprise a performance assessment of the existing product, an analysis of the needs of diaspora in terms of a savings service, a study on the diaspora structure of the recipient country, proposals for improving existing savings products, and a communication strategy.

3. Support for the identification of innovative legal proposals for the development of a single regulated savings account for all countries of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU), mainly targeting diaspora inside and outside the WAMU.