Support Programme for Strengthening Partnerships with Comorian Diaspora Entrepreneurs

The Support Programme for Strengthening Partnerships with Comorian Diaspora Entrepreneurs was signed on 11 June 2021 between the French Embassy in Moroni, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Comoros, AFD and Expertise France.

The project targets the human capital and Comorian diaspora entrepreneurs established in mainland France and in the overseas departments. It is also part of the France-Comoros Development Plan (FCDP) of 22 July 2019 which is based on the following three strategic priorities:

1. The economic integration and social cohesion of Comorian youth.
2. The stimulation of the economic fabric creating sustainable jobs, with the need to optimise synergies for regional economic integration.
3. Widespread access to quality healthcare.

An archipelago in the Indian Ocean located in the Mozambique Channel, with less than a million inhabitants, the Union of the Comoros is particularly vulnerable to climate hazards. Its long-term growth rate remains insufficient to allow a sustainable economic take-off for the country.

The IMF estimated its GDP at about €1.2 billion in 2020 and it is mainly based on the rural sector (70% of employment). It is important to note that diaspora remittances account for about 20% of national GDP. The women and men of the Comorian diaspora are key stakeholders for the socio-economic development of the country, but their potential remains insufficiently channelled towards development issues. These remittances are made throughout the year and aim to support the studies and everyday expenses of families, as well as family building and equipment plans, in particular to prepare for Anda (“Great Marriage”), a mainly Grande Comore tradition.
 

However, this capital is rarely directed towards productive investment, or projects that go beyond the scope of the village of origin of the diaspora. Business creation by members of the diaspora remains generally limited: the National Agency for the Promotion of Investments recorded 1,794 business creations between 2016 and 2020, including only 80 by the diaspora, or 4%.

The country has adopted an Emerging Comoros Plan for 2020-2030 in which the diaspora occupies a prominent place due to the estimated annual amount of its capital flows into the country. It clearly aims to address the undervalued potential of the diaspora to generate direct investments, a dynamic to which this project contributes in accordance with the FCDP.

The project’s main objective is to contribute to strengthening cohesion, solidarity and unity among all Comorian residents and the diaspora for the sustainable development of the country by:

1. Increasing the mobilisation and involvement of institutional actors with the diaspora.

2. Supporting 100 initiators of socio-economic projects and investors from the diaspora.

3. Capitalising on the human capital potential of the Comorian diaspora, which contributes to the socio-economic development of the country.

Increase the mobilisation and involvement of institutional actors with the diaspora. 

• Develop a strategy for the mobilisation of the diaspora through interministerial action to help improve the synergy between the relevant institutions at national level
• Give a better understanding of the diasporas in France, Réunion, the Indian Ocean and Middle East, by conducting specific studies including a focus on the issues of gender and generational transition
• Stimulate spaces for dialogue between the Diaspora Commission and Comorian diaspora
• Finance innovative initiatives to promote and support entrepreneurship and investment

Support initiators of socio-economic projects from the diaspora

• Inform associations about the mechanism individually and collectively
• Promote networking and exchanges of practices between Comorian diaspora associations and other relevant stakeholders from associations
• Set up a financing mechanism for local development projects
• Launch a second call for projects at the meso level

Optimise the human capital of the Comorian diaspora

• Create a digital system with continuous input able to collect and filter emerging professional opportunities in the Comoros and disseminate them among professional networks and diaspora associations
• Institutionalise the mechanism to ensure the continuity of the service beyond the lifetime of the project (through technical expertise)
• Communicate on the mechanism among all the project stakeholders in France and the Comoros

Formalise and finance expert missions by the diaspora