Many young people from the African diaspora are now choosing to give up their lives abroad to settle permanently in Africa. This new generation, called the “Repats”, wish to participate in the development of the African continent so that it becomes powerful and strong. It is undeniable that this transfer of expatriates to their country of origin or to another is an essential resource in terms of development. Nevertheless, despite increasing returns to Africa, few African governments have set up real support programs for the resettlement of the African diaspora.
The program of return to the country set up by Cameroon
Since February 2017, the Cameroonian government has set up a program to support Cameroonian youth living abroad who wish to settle in their country of origin. Pari-Jedi (Program to help the return and integration of young people from the diaspora) depends on the Ministry of Youth and Civic Education and its Minister Mounouna Foutsou.
It is actually a mechanism that aims to mobilize and support Cameroonian youth living abroad when they return and become economically integrated. Thanks to Pari-Jedi, this young diaspora is able to participate in the development of the country. Very targeted, this program mainly concerns the young Cameroonian diaspora who carries real professional projects or who wish to settle down as entrepreneurs.
To ensure the management, cohesion and success of Pari-Jedi, a steering committee and a service dedicated to the prevention of illegal migration have emerged. Their mission is to design and implement strategies whose aim is to attract and then “retain” the young “repats” identified as individuals with a sensitivity to migration.
The underlying goal of the Cameroonian government? Benefit from the dynamism of the diaspora whose economic power amounts to 1.2 billion dollars for the year 2015.
The program of return to the country set up by Morocco
Morocco has set up the MRE program (Moroccans living abroad) which aims to support Moroccans living in Europe wishing to return to live in Morocco.
This program has different components:
- Accompanying project leaders during the various stages that mark the launch of their company.
- Establishment of an incentive and attractive tax system to support the projects defined by the MRE.
- Strengthening of partnership with local actors (municipalities, civil society organizations) in order to arouse the interest of MREs in the development of their region of origin.
- Provision of a platform including a portal with a section dealing specifically with the issues that investors may face and a database open to all Moroccans living abroad to be able to apprehend the problem of investment in Morocco.
Despite these different initiatives in Africa, many countries are still reluctant to put in place programs to encourage the return of the African diaspora to the African continent.
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