About

Women and youth in diaspora communities contribute cultural, economic, human, and social capital that is vital to development, humanitarian response, resilience building, and social cohesion. Yet their participation and leadership often remain constrained by structural barriers, including fragmented institutional frameworks, limited sex- and age-disaggregated data, unequal access to funding, safety and protection gaps, and persistent underrepresentation in decision-making spaces. 

Developed under the leadership of Georgia and Sierra Leone, and grounded in global commitments such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UN Youth Strategy 2030, the Beijing Platform for Action, and the Global Compact for Migration, the guidance reflects a growing international consensus that the empowerment of women and youth is indispensable to sustainable development and effective migration governance. It promotes a human rights-based, gender-responsive, age-sensitive, and disability-inclusive approach that aligns diaspora engagement with national and global priorities. 

Responding directly to the challenges women and youth face, the guidance offers governments practical tools to dismantle systemic barriers and build inclusive, equitable mechanisms that amplify diaspora leadership across borders. As the first comprehensive tool within the Global Diaspora Policy Alliance (GDPA) explicitly designed to centre women and youth in policy, programming, and multistakeholder collaboration, it fills a long-standing gap in diaspora engagement practices. Its uniqueness lies in its holistic, sector-driven model, integrating global frameworks, intersectional analysis, diaspora capital, and IOM’s 3E Approach (Engage, Enable, Empower) into a single, adaptable operational framework. By positioning women and youth not as beneficiaries but as leaders, innovators, and agents of change, it redefines the terms of engagement for governments and partners alike. 

In this context, the launch event provides a global platform to elevate the guidance’s core message: that inclusive, evidence-based, and multistakeholder diaspora engagement is both necessary and achievable for empowering women and youth in societies of origin and residence. The event aims to catalyze political commitment, strengthen partnerships, and support the wide uptake of the guidance across the GDPA ecosystem. 

Objectives 

• Present the core rationale, frameworks, and tools of the guidance—including diaspora capital, intersectional analysis, value-proposition development, the 3E Approach, and principles for sustainable and inclusive engagement. 

• Highlight and amplify the leadership, expertise, and lived experiences of diaspora women and youth through case studies, testimonials, and panel discussions. 

• Facilitate dialogue among governments, diaspora organizations, development partners, and private sector actors to support the integration and uptake of the guidance within national, regional, and sectoral strategies. 

• Promote and disseminate a practical, user-friendly tool that strengthens Member States’ capacity to mainstream gender- and youth-responsive approaches across diaspora engagement policies and programmes. 

Target Audience 

• Government ministries and agencies responsible for diaspora affairs,  youth, social protection, culture, migration, and development cooperation. 

• Members of the Global Diaspora Policy Alliance. 

• Diaspora organizations and networks, especially women-led and youth-led groups. 

• Civil society organizations, academic institutions, research centers, and international cooperation partners. 

Agenda (90 min) 

• Opening remarks (5 min)
  Speaker: Ms. Ugochi Daniels, IOM DDG

• High-level remarks – Co-chairs (Georgia & Sierra Leone) (15 min)

• Presentation of the Guidance (15 min)
  Content:
  • Overview of the global frameworks
  • Key findings: barriers, diaspora capital, value proposition
  • Introduction to the 3E Approach and principles for sustainable engagement
  Speaker: Dr. Larisa Lara, Diaspora Engagement Officer, MPD, IOM

• Panel discussion: Diaspora leadership in action (30 min)
  Featuring representatives from case study organizations and youth and women diaspora leaders
  Guiding questions:
  • How can diaspora capital drive systems change for women and youth empowerment?
  • What models demonstrate effective multistakeholder collaboration?
  • What are practical recommendations for governments?
  Moderator: Ms. Roberta Bojang, peacebuilding and gender equality activist
  Speakers:
  • Ms. Ambi, PhD Researcher, Geneva Graduate Institute, and Member, Youth Committee on Migration & Displacement Data (YCMDD), Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP)
  • Ms. Liana Nitsetskaia, Founder and President, Georgian Heritage Foundation
  • Mr. Noel C. G. Newman, Founder and Executive Director, Under 30 CEOs Africa

• Q&A with Member States and participants (20 min)
  Moderator: Ms. Catherine Hingley, Gender Specialist, IOM

• Closing remarks (5 min)
  Speaker: Dr. Larisa Lara, Diaspora Engagement Officer, MPD, IOM

Moderators and Speakers

Moderator: Ms Roberta Bojang, peacebuilding and gender equality activist

Roberta Bojang is a peacebuilding and gender equality activist, who’s engagements have taken her to work with a variety of global institutions, including several UN bodies, the Council of Europe and the European Union. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the Free University of Brussels, where her research focused on the role of women-led civil society in peacebuilding processes. Her activism specifically focuses on the inclusion of diaspora voices in policy dialogue, which has led her to co-found the youth organisation  “UNGAE”, which works on exchange and skills matchmaking between African and European youth. She further advises on the "AU - EU youth lab", a funding mechanism developed to support youth empowerment and European-African cooperation. 

Speakers:

Ms. Ambi Srivastav, PhD Researcher, Geneva Graduate Institute, and Member, Youth Committee on Migration & Displacement Data (YCMDD), Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP)

Ambi is a migration and labour policy specialist and PhD researcher in International Relations/Political Science at the Geneva Graduate Institute. Her doctoral research explores the lived experiences of platform-based migrant workers and how digital labour platforms shape livelihoods, time, and urban inclusion in the Global South. She also serves on the Youth Committee on Migration & Displacement Data (YCMDD) with UNICEF–IDAC at the Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP), where she is contributing to youth-led efforts to address data gaps affecting young migrants and children on the move. Bridging research and policy practice, her work focuses on diaspora engagement, gender equality, and youth empowerment within migration governance. Moving between Geneva, New Delhi, and Patna, she centres equity, participation, and just pathways for gender- and youth-inclusive diaspora engagement. 

Ms. Liana Nitsetskaia, Founder and President, Georgian Heritage Foundation

Liana Nitsetskaia is the Founder and President of the Georgian Heritage Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization working in the areas of cultural heritage, education, and diaspora engagement. She leads the Georgian Diaspora Diplomacy Engagement Program, which supports dialogue, knowledge exchange, and people-to-people cooperation as pathways for inclusive development and sustained transnational collaboration beyond political frameworks. Her work focuses on strengthening diaspora participation and contribution, with particular attention to youth engagement. She represents Georgia and the lived experience of its diaspora in international 

Mr. Noel C. G. Newman, Founder and Executive Director, Under 30 CEOs Africa

Noel C. G. Newman is a seasoned professional with over seven years of experience in youth development, girls’ empowerment, entrepreneurship, and the commercialization of education and financial services. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Under 30 CEOs Africa, a youth-led business consultancy operating in Sierra Leone, Rwanda, and The Gambia, providing opportunities in education, entrepreneurship, skills development, and innovation.

He is an entrepreneur, coach, and business development consultant, supporting startups and SMEs through programmes funded by UNDP, the World Bank, the European Union, and the Government of Sierra Leone. He is currently recognized as an IOM Young Diaspora Leader for 2025 and is an alumnus of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Ghana. He is also an author and publisher of Sierra Leone’s first entrepreneurship magazine, highlighting young leaders in social enterprise and innovation. Noel is globally recognized for his contributions and envisions a society where youth can thrive through entrepreneurship.