 Good morning, good afternoon and good evening as we have the room filling up. Very excited to be here today. I think for those of us who've been joining the various sessions that have been taking place today since the summit has kicked off, we'll have to agree that it's been very insightful a lot that we have taken in and really glad to be here with you today. My name is Padi Sianga Knudsen, I'm a migration governance expert and the Vice President of the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism. And I will be your moderator for today. Really delighted to be here in this space, welcoming everyone, joining us from various spaces and from around the world. You are welcome. We are here for quite an interesting ride. We're hoping that it will be very participatory in nature. And so please, as you settle down, we hope that you have your glass of water, a cup of coffee, just something to keep quenching your thirst as we will be engaging in a discussion for most of the time that we have here today in this technical working group that is focusing on Diaspora cultural capital. We've had a lot of deliberations and other sessions that have indeed, I think, fed into a lot of the discussions here today. So you are welcome and thank you for joining us. Just a quick run of what, you know, a bit of house rules. We know everyone is very familiar with the use of Zoom and virtual platforms, but good to remind ourselves that it's best that we have our microphones muted while we are in the room just to allow us to be able to hear the speakers. You will be given an opportunity to be unmuted when you're sharing a bit later. Very nice always to see friendly faces on screen. So feel free to have your screen on and it will be nice to be joined on screen. So you are welcome. A reminder that we do also have interpretation that is available. And I think we've had some of the colleagues showing the screen there on the language interpretation. There are a couple of buttons down there that can be clicked so that you are able to join us and be comfortable in the language that you're most comfortable in to communicate in. And just also to, as a reminder, as we use the chat and as we share questions that we really are using Kirchis language and we're adhering to some time limitations so that we make sure that, you know, everyone is afforded a chance for us to speak today. As we said, it's participatory in nature. It's a technical working group. So we hope that, you know, you've come engaged, not just to listen, but also engage in a way that we're here to learn from the different spaces that you're joining us from sharing with us. You know, from the different presentations that will be made. So maybe just a quick run of what we will be doing today. I will be repeating this a bit later so we will not dive a bit into it before I would introduce our host here today. So we will have a word from our host. And after that, we will go ahead and listen to the background paper that has been prepared. And in which we will then go to the regional consultative reflections if one may call that that are coming from three regions and we're glad to have representatives from the free from the regions. And then we will dive into the meat of the discussion and engage in hopefully a very engaging discussion and interactive session with everyone that is here today. I must just pay homage. Once again, thanking the host government that is keeping us here today. Just to say thank you very much to her Excellency, Fulvia, Elvira, Benavides Cortes, and also accompanied by Mr. Carlos Cordova, who are representing the government of Colombia. And we will be hearing a bit more and sharing also a bit more when we get to the session where they will come and share a bit with us. And just, you know, as we are just, you know, running through this, I think what is what is essentially important is for us to zero in a little bit and have an understanding of why we're here for this technical working group. So we have four definitions this morning and one would be asking why have we split the four technical working groups. So just as a background, explainer to the reason why we're here. We tried to coin diaspora capital into some definitions that have been defined around the networking Institute will be sharing a couple of those if people want to know them. But where we're really seeing diaspora capital as an overseas resource available to a country or region, a city and organization and location. It's made up of flows of people, networks, finance ideas, attitudes and concerns for places of origin, ancestry and affinity. So in short flows of people, knowledge and money. And at the same time, we really are realizing that the mobilization of capital through what IOM causes three strategies to engage and enable and to empower diaspora communities. And so these technical working groups are have actually been did a great way for us to engage diaspora on sort of four different types of diaspora capital. And through IOM experience in the field and many others that engage with IOM for that matter, this technical working group wanted to just focus on that cultural capital aspect. So one may be asking what do we mean by cultural capital and here we're looking at this acquisition and transfer of new values and perspective and ideas that enrich the diversity and resilience of societies, and indeed realizing that diaspora have agency, and they have a lot that they could bring to the table. So what we would what would we like to sort of get as we are coming out of this technical working group, being kind of conscious of time. So we have around three key questions and these three key questions, want to look at, you know, the place of building long term and sustainable mechanisms to engage diaspora cultural capital. And therefore, we are looking at three particular aspects, what are those key institutional mechanisms, what are those key informational mechanisms and what are those key implementation mechanisms that when we look at these three. Like pillars or areas, you know how do then you know how do then governments and countries of origin and resilience what do they need in place to order in order to build these long term and sustainable mechanisms, so that they engage with diaspora cultural capital. So these are sort of the, you know, institutional informational and implementation mechanisms, and we're really hoping that we'll be able to to dive in a lot of this. There's a lot of expertise that's around the table and there's, you know, just the experience of having a virtual network of virtual space. So we're really hoping that, you know, bring out your authentic ideas, bring out what's different from your spaces it's a space for us to learn. And I like that in the space of culture. I think it's also very important for us to be paying a lot of homage to, to the different spaces that we represent. So we are here for all the diversity and the diverse views that are coming out and and and for all the institutions that diaspora organizations, individuals and those who are joining us in the room will be able to share. So, essentially, we have also shared I think a guide has gone out a background document and we'll be hearing a bit more about that so you don't have to rush and open the link to the guide because we have, we have colleagues from the International Organization for migration, who will be sharing and diving into that background document so we'll have an opportunity to listen and engage with it. And I think as it's very important I think when we talk about, you know, these these aspects that we have dug into whether we're looking at the institutional aspect, the implementation aspect from the institutional point of view I think it's important to know that we have the policies the strategies, and we have, you know, whether we're talking about diaspora ministries desks and and whichever ministry they may be placed in when we're talking about that whole of government approach. So, from that perspective remains particularly important, as well as looking at other strategies that look at research and development that touch on data. Very interesting deliberations that also touched on that this morning, but also looking at communication being very important. From that implementation aspect I think it's good to remind ourselves that a lot is happening on the ground they have various programs that are out there. There's a lot of talk around resources and so the allocation of resources remains essentially important. So please feel free to just come out and share with us those experiences that are on the ground in order for us within this space to build up on what is already existing on the various platforms and on the paper. And you know just looking forward, one may ask why are we sitting here and you know why are we asking some of these questions why are these questions important well you know that the so called future agenda document of the GDS has been designed in to take on reflections and the reflections that come from various parties on these particular issues are critically important because at the end of the day when you have a statement that has that global collaborative action. It's important that it has a global it has had a global. It has had it's been tested at a global platform such as this one where we're here. And these are essentially important for when we talk about the future of diaspora engagement. So that's very important for us you know in in really coming coming back to everyone and and being able to bring out all these discussions through this technical session that we have here today. So a lot I have said and maybe the interpreters may even be sending me a message in the private box and saying slow down a little bit. But you know, the idea indeed is for us to be able to hear for for us to be able to hear not only just from our speakers, but very important again repeating on this collective core design of the future vision for diaspora engagement, particularly when we look at cultural capital. And with these words I would like to hand over to our government session host. And again just to introduce her excellency to come and join us and give us some words and even just as I see maybe her and muting herself and coming on just to share a bit of her bio. High Excellency Fulvia Elvira Benavides Cortes is the director of immigration and consular affairs and citizen service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And she has been holding this position for a third time now she's a lawyer by background specialist in high state management. She's engaged with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for nearly 40 years. And she has held various important positions including a general secretary, working as a director of international cooperation, but as well as being the consul general of Columbia in Santiago de Chile. She has served as ambassador to the government of to the government of the plurination of state of Bolivia. She's been charged a fair of the Embassy of Columbia in Finland and the ambassador of Columbia in El Salvador. So ambassador we're really glad to be here in your home as you welcome us and passing over the words to you ambassador over to you. Thank you. Thank you for this introduction for me as this meeting, but now I'm going to change to the Spanish because I prefer to work in this language. Thank you so much. Firstly, I would like to underline the IOM leadership when in the compact for secure, regular and ordained immigration at the UN in 2018 where 23 goals were established as a roadmap. That include the measures for its application follow up and examination in 2019. There was a summit, a diaspora summit, and it was a call for the countries of the global compact to create the necessary conditions so that migrants and diaspora can contribute in fully to sustainable development in every country. In that framework, Columbia has been invited to participate in a technical working group on the cultural capital of diaspora. Columbia was a immigrant country. And so our policies is orientated as established in the decree at 2126 of in 92 to create links with the Colombian groups abroad. And in order to promote Colombia's image abroad and promote cultural links in 2004 we strengthen this work of the Colombian state with the diaspora and we coordinated the group. We provided citizen services in order to strengthen links among Colombians abroad and their families in the country and the regions and in order to study the Colombian diaspora to establish their needs and to define a public policies in order to satisfy their needs. From this legal framework, Columbia is strengthening the cultural links with the diaspora, including those of second and third generation. During this process we found collective building opportunities that will strengthen the belonging sense and identity. And this becomes an asset for everyone. When the diaspora re-indicates the cultural values, they make us visible in their host country and so we are at the disposal in order to be acknowledged, to be known and disseminated. And so, Colombia, thanks to every Colombian abroad, especially writers, cultures, artists, painters, musicians and teachers who show in the world what we are and how we dream of ourselves. On behalf of our commitment with the diaspora of second and third generation is to keep on building spaces and projects and so to promote the knowledge of our ancestral civilization and to disseminate in every scenario. The Foreign Affairs Ministry, along with Colombian consulates, promote projects that will eradicate the lack of fruit and those cultural projects are designed depending on the characteristics of the Colombian community abroad. For some projects, some consulates where we have quite a number of Colombians, they have multiplication of the Colombian uni, which also belong to the Colombian community, in the task force where we bring in the Colombian association community leaders and members of the general community. So the Colombian multiplicator unites us under the guise of the ministry and identifies the risk of losing the roots. And after this work, we provide some actions such as teaching Spanish to Colombian children in Europa and in Lebanon, Syria and others through digital channels in of Colombia. To name, some sessions are live. We have some awards on writing, painting and art on the beauty of Colombia and this art is then promoted. We create activities for the Colombian children, for example, music and they specialize in the interpretation of Colombian music. During the pandemic, in order to answer the needs of the Colombian communities that I'm talking about economic or emotional family needs through consulates, we created cultural initiatives that have to mitigate the crisis in hundreds of families. We created a digital card with recipes by Colombians who live in Ontario, Canada. We create digital directories of entrepreneurs in order to get to know each other and to finance their art. We had a virtual workshop for music for children and adults in Chile. We created an initiative for Colombian artists in the Colombian Consulate in Barcelona. They could show their work for some weeks and also we had some activities in the digital community. We organized ourselves with several consulates and we held several workshops with artists. It was a showcase of resilience and entrepreneurship. We strengthened the sense of belonging during the pandemic and during the new normality. And so the consulates are creating commemoration days in order to provide visibility to Colombian communities and individuals who work for our culture. Singers, artists, writers, they are all disseminating the roots of their cultural diaspora. On the other hand, the service for the citizen in consulates work according to our internationalization mission, who seeks to raise the competitiveness of the country and they underlined the diaspora of our country and the fact of being migrant, they should allow them to be considered as Colombians. So we have some strategy for the sense of belonging not only abroad but also in our own country in order to strengthen them in this global world and to bring them to life. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Ambassador, for sharing those reflections and really sharing with us the experience of Colombia in engaging with its diaspora and in raising and highlighting the cultural capital that is available there. It's very interesting to hear, I think, also the interactions with the different spaces, whether it's technology and also kind of the intentional space that's there to make linkages to the sense of belonging. And if possible, it would be great for us to also hear from Mr. Carlos. Mr. Carlos, are you there? Thank you so much, Patty. Okay, just making sure you're there and then just thank you so much to our ambassador, Julio Benavides. It was a clear explanation of the things that our government is doing in favor of our diaspora. So I want to share with you maybe ideas about topics and examples, about the topics that our ambassador will be talking about. Could you please tell me if it is my... Thank you so much. Well, at the beginning, I'll switch to Spanish. We, as the ambassador Ms. Fulvia was mentioning before, we as a state have discovered the opportunities within diaspora and migration, which is connected to a specific commemoration. And we think that's the key for this development of opportunities. There is a social element in this commemoration. It is the day of the migrant, the Colombian migrant. Let me just check the main guidelines on which this conversation is based. The ambassador rightly and precisely explained the role of Colombia when it comes to foreign affairs and foreign relationships. And this is what she so rightly underscored. And as I mentioned before, we need to underline again that Colombia is committed with migration and diaspora. And that is crystal clear, especially through the public policies action, as the ambassador explained to us. There is an action in order to internationalize this diaspora in the different scenarios, in the different nations, fostering the development. And this is done intersectionally and interculturally within the social environment. Some of the public policies of the Colombian state include, since for the last two years, as I said, the celebration of this day. It is celebrated in October and it allows to every migrant to celebrate with different activities that gather Colombians living abroad. And there's a myriad of practices, entrepreneurship, educational activities, trainings and formative activities. Everything cross-cutting. So this has been our labor in order to foster culture as a meeting point in the international arena. All these activities worldwide have this element in common, the culture embedded in them. This culture enshrined in that Colombian person who migrates. And at the end, this Colombian culture plus the culture of the destination country creates an amalgam and a mixture, a very special one. And these Colombians, in going as far as the second and third generations, understand the ancestral role models in their very own origin countries, home countries. And this is what we've been working on in order to extol Colombian culture and everything embedded in it. The ambassador also referred to the fact that these are initiatives from the civil society and supported by the state. And they are connected to the daily activity of every Colombian, not only abroad, but in general. What happened with the COVID-19 situation? It's locked down society. But even though with this situation, the cultural practices could not be stopped. And the consulate with Colombia Unitas could put into place these actions in order to continue fostering the cultural bonds. The minister Benavides always cared for cohesion, pertinence within these activities. That's why today we can proudly say that we're going back to normal, not only in Colombia, but in the destination countries of the migrants. And these channels are very important, these vehicles in order to promote these different areas of work and culture within a daily life in our diaspora. What we see today is that the pandemic offered us an opportunity, and this opportunity makes us strive for the future and work with the second and third generation, these virtual platforms in order to interact. All the institutions in Colombia are supporting the activity of the consulates. What do we see in the near future? We're going to gather data in order to build up a public policy that actually gives an answer to the needs of the diaspora. And defines clearly the context in which the diaspora is set. Because the destination countries have a different set of things to offer. We want pertinent and appropriate services for these communities in each and every country where they are. We want to use these information tools for this purpose and keep the accounts on the cultural capital that diaspora represents. The Colombian state has always been deeply concerned and interested in migration. The Colombian state is very clear with this and is fostering reciprocity when it comes to every issue related to migration. And I'm very thankful to have been capable of sharing this experience of Colombia, and as soon as Colombia unites us from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that embeds all the diplomacy all over the world. Thank you very much. Mr. Carlos Cordova, thank you very much for enlightening us and for the presentation. I'm really glad to have had an opportunity to hear from our host here and also just getting into some of the activities that have commemorated Colombian migrants, but also bringing in how the role of consular in sort of dealing with COVID and dealing with crisis and how that cultural aspects remain critical even for engagement in such times. Also very happy to hear about some of the reflections that you have shared on looking forward into the future, talking about diaspora as social capital and also looking at culture as an essential part of that. But also your very first point that touched me there on the need for data and indeed data becomes very important even as we're looking at a cultural capital in understanding how best the needs of the diaspora would be responded to, but also indeed in defining the context of the diaspora. Thank you very much for sharing those reflections with us. And we will now move to another segment of the session today, like I had mentioned previously as part of this invitation to the technical working group. And that shared as an attachment, a document or rather background paper that looks at diaspora cultural capital, and I'm really delighted for this particular segment to invite Larissa Lara, Dr Larissa Lara who has become not only but a colleague but a friend, and she is the transnational communities and diaspora digital communities officer at the International Organization for Migration based in Geneva. She is really an important face to this summit itself. And Larissa, thank you for all the important work that you do and even as Larissa is coming on to make the presentation, I would just also like to share a bit more from her bio. Larissa has a PhD from the Centre of Ethnic and Migration Studies at the University of Liege and the Research Unit of the Migration and Society from the University of Paris. She holds a Masters in Migration Studies from the University of Oxford and a Masters of Arts in Conflict Security and Development from King's College London. And apart from that, a search on her name gives you a wealth of the multiple academic articles that she has published, specializing in transnationalism and diaspora engagement. And really delighted that she's here to share with us the background paper that talks that is centered around paving the way to achieving a global objective 19 of the GCM, particularly focusing on the diaspora cultural capital. Larissa, take us away. Thank you so much, buddy. I just want to make sure that... And I will also mention the English word that I forgot to mention. On the other hand, I am happy to be here with you today. And I will be talking about the background paper. Because this is the main issue for the immigrants or for the children. And I think this is the main issue. And I think that the immigration system in the country is the main issue. So I think that we need to listen to the time and the effort. And more than that, the human resources and other resources on this side. So I think we need to talk about the issues. We need to benefit from different cultures and some of them are different. So this kind of interaction will be the main issue in the next steps. And I will look at the examples and comparisons that I have made. So the culture is the race, the race or the support that brings together all of us. This is the important part of the culture. It is the power of culture. You should meet women on social media. You should get in touch with them through the history, through the knowledge, the sharing. We try to create shared things. And what is the real power? This will lead to the feeling of trust and people working with it. Because there is a need to give something to the society because they believe in this value that they believe in or that is reflected in this conflict. And once again, I think this is important and today we will discuss the main issues of identity and identity and identity and the language. So the guest country is talking about its original language and trying to make sure that the second and third generation from Lebanon and Europe are talking about the Spanish. We are talking about it through the language and then we will talk about the cultural heritage. I think that the government of Ireland is the main issue for these special areas of participation and cultural heritage. First of all, we will discuss the cultural heritage of the guest country and the cultural heritage of the country whether it is the original country or the state and their importance. And we will discuss with you all these ideas and then we will talk about the second one preservation of language and also the emotional heritage and finally the calendars of cultural celebrations. Again, it was a pleasure to listen to Colombia having a specific day for migrants. So that's really incredible. In terms of ancestry and belonging, why is it so important for countries and beyond governments to invest in this area of diaspora engagement? Very simple, it's key for soft and smart power. People get connected through this sense of belonging through this common history and also it is important to create strategic linkages with members of diasporas based in that common thread, sorry, that is culture. So it's also very important to put individuals at the forefront of all of this. Why? Because we have to consider age, gender, the personal interest of diasporas. People get attracted by the things they know and they also create commonalities by their interest. So it makes total sense to tailor every single program that we're creating. And finally, a cultural commonality can, of course, create more collaboration among different stakeholders. And as I was sharing just before we opened the session with Mr. Cordova, Carlos Cordova, when you attend any concert, any theater, it goes beyond those two hours. You start creating a common, I would say you start creating connections, the power of networking, it's also there. You share a cup of tea, then you discuss what was the film about or what was the piece of theater about and that creates reflection, creates connections, creates friendship, and then creates action. So that's why culture is very important in terms of diaspora engagement. Related to the preservation of language, I just want to mention that as was shared by our host countries, language and education, of course, creates linkages. So we have seen multiple times by different cases studies that it is very important to connect and to keep that glue of culture through different generations and there are many ways of doing it, not only physically but also in the digital space and, of course, COVID has shown that it's key and it's very visible. So creating those linkages is also possible through the digital space and, of course, we have to be considerate of the potential challenges that we are facing in this digital era. We have discussed today many of them in our panel, in our session six, but it's important to consider data protection, security, and, of course, all of the digital literacy barriers that we may encounter. The next area of engagement that I would like to emphasize is the promotion of cultural heritage. It is very important to consider all the different types and sectors of culture, from arts to cuisine to music to sports. People connect differently. People have different interests. So we have to zoom into their experiences to learn more about what they want, what they need, and how they can even engage more and connect with their home societies. So I think this is crucial. So we need to keep working for the further recognition of talent from diasporas, from the younger generation, and all the contributions that they can make across the different fields and sectors in society. And we, of course, need to think much more about the longer-term effects. So once we invest in developing cultural specific programs, of course, we might not see immediately the capital that we're investing in, but, trust me, once you invest in it, you start creating those linkages and you make a much more sustainable way of engaging with your diasporas. So, of course, just to mention two potential leverages on that could be nostalgic trade, cultural heritage, tourism. So sometimes I think we might focus quite a bit in the economic side of the diaspora engagement, and it is crucial to keep mentioning the cultural one and the power of it. Then in terms of calendars of cultural celebration, which is another key area of diaspora engagement, one of the key points that I want to make is that it is very important to start creating and developing nurturing partnerships with the private sector. We have seen today in multiple discussions that this is key to attract more diasporas that are working in that sector, but also to keep mobilizing resources, people, interest, and all of this, to keep outreaching to more and more people, to keep recognizing what diasporas are doing. So one of the key aspects of specifics we can talk about the regional belonging. So another point that I would like to make is that, of course, belonging is not just defined by a city. It could be also defined by a country and also by a region. I feel that in America and as much as I feel Mexican, and it's not a problem. So it also depends on how people perceive themselves as different layers of belonging to create very specific programs and to keep developing and engaging with diasporas. Finally, another point would be of course to create very fun initiatives. I think that's crucial because people like to have fun and to create innovative solutions and ways of engagement, specifically the young generation, I have to say. So at IOM we have different examples of those and, of course, our governments in these sessions have also quite a lot of experience doing that so it would be great to hear a little bit more on those experiences. Just few points before we go to the country of residence. Of course Padi was already introducing these three pillars. One, the information and finally the implementation. So the way we decided to talk about those is to try to have a holistic view on diaspora engagement. And in terms of cultural capital engagement we believe that it is very important to start investing more in this area but also because it creates a collaborative and also to feed a collaborative institutional framework to develop clear communication and outreach strategies. Again, I have been mentioning a lot of tailoring, tailoring, tailoring. I think that's key for success to really know your diaspora, to really know who you're targeting in your diaspora because we have to remember that diasporas are very diverse. So depending on who we are targeting and how we want to engage with them we would need to listen to their needs directly. We have been already discussing about the emergence of much more digitalized ways of connecting with diasporas, offering them services. So also important to consider and finally to ensure active storytelling. Everyone loves histories. Stories move people. So it's always very important to capture those personal stories to share. That's why we tried to implement that in this Global Diaspora Summit inviting keynote speakers to give an actual TED talk because we are conscious that stories move people. So that's another reflection that we wanted to share with you today. Now let's go to the countries of residence. I will be sharing with you some key areas of engagement in regards to the countries of residence. So as I was sharing before multicultural composition of societies it's happening, it is here and it's very rich and we have to take it because I couldn't imagine a monocultural place where it would be personally I would feel that it's quite boring. I really love to engage with people from different cultures and to learn much more about them. And I think you might have heard about the term coined by Vertovec. Superdiversity is key for diaspora engagement specifically in countries of residence. So there are many different instruments to connect with diasporas in countries of residence but it's also important to be conscious that this environment has to be created across different levels of government so that diasporas can communicate safely and celebrate their countries in a very safe environment and create those connections with the host society which are very incredible when you look at the examples of success. In terms of specific areas of engagement that go into three of course this is not I should have mentioned that it's not complete analysis, we're just pointing out indicators and of course open for discussion on how to make this much more comprehensive. In terms of how countries of residence can develop diaspora engagement policies in particular at the cultural level I would just present these three integration and community development affinity diaspora and cross cultural leadership in terms of integration and community development as I was saying before diversity and even super diversity is here so we have to embrace it and we have to be very joyful of it integrating diasporas at different levels of engagement at the cultural level is also very enriching for societies. Diasporas have a lot of talent diasporas know how to navigate multiple contexts when you travel you learn a lot right so diasporas have this dynamic of understanding different contexts even different bureaucracies as easy as that I think that's fantastic to think about diasporas are resilient and it is also very important to learn from them at the local level in countries of residence there are many innovations innovative solutions for specific problems for instance I don't know you have a memory from your home country and then you arrive to the host country and then you remember that and you just implement it that ability of implementing I think diasporas have this toolkit in their heads that can be very applicable in different contexts that is strengthening these connections between countries of origin, countries of destination and even diasporas themselves at the center it is very important and to give diasporas the opportunity to learn more about in terms of capacity building so that they can consolidate as civil society organizations institutionalization is key for this because it ensures sustainability so that's another message that I wanted to share with you today in terms of affinity affinity diaspora in particular of course I have been sharing with you even my personal stories but people are whenever they travel whenever they move from country to country they start accumulating experiences and that defines their identity so sometimes people have had the chance to travel in different countries to keep those identities in their memories so we would be looking at transnational identities, different conceptualizations of identity and sense of belonging and that's very important if you think about it when people have two passports they have the right to vote in two countries so whenever that's possible of course so that is also important to think about we are in a very very diverse world and these hyphenated identities are also important to consider even for governments and I would say very importantly for governments if you think about that diaspora diplomacy element finally I would like to just go into the cross cultural leadership so countries of residence can access leadership and networks from diasporas of course because as I was saying before diasporas have the talent have the connections they act as bridges they communicate between different societies and different countries so it is very valuable to consider them in policy making and in programming they are of course communities that are rich competitive, diverse as I was saying they have their own background they have their own connections and their own experiences that can enrich even more the societies where we are living in I think to give the final words on this section that strategic investment in the area of culture is key connecting leaders is very important there are many different programs where leaders interact and share experiences they learn from each other and they maximise their investment in the different areas of development I would like to go a little bit more into depth into how to capitalise and how to maximise the use and implementation of culture in diasporic engagement it would be very important to keep mainstream cultural engagement of diasporas as I was saying before in policies and programs that's key remember that sustainability element it is crucial I personally believe that cultural events of diasporic organisations are incredible you learn so much from those experiences and you are just exposed to different ways of doing things I'm very sure that you enjoy your Peruvian ceviche you enjoy your raclette all of these diversity is amazing we don't have to stick to just one element let's share let's share experiences I think that also connects people so let's keep producing really exciting cultural events and programs to support that that interconnectivity it is also key to keep the active participation of diasporic cultural gatekeepers in the different fields of culture meaning arts, gastronomy sports and all the different creative industries design, fashion even there are so many and finally I would say that it is also very important to celebrate diasporic cultural overachievers there are key leaders out there and it's always very nice to recognise them to create specific programs to recognise their activities because at the end of the day they are ambassadors of countries just this is my last slide I would like to just make some final reflections on the three pillars that we're also advocating to analyse in this conference and in this global diaspora summit which are three of the key programs and partnership and in terms of cultural diaspora engagement it is again very important to keep recognising diaspora culture as a key pillar of diaspora engagement in terms of programming let's keep investing in that portfolio of cultural products and promotion activities it is very important to keep investing in this for the sustainability of that love for the home country and finally in terms of partnerships again I will keep repeating it it is very important to create multi-stakeholder approaches we learn so much from each other and in today's discussion that I had the honour to moderate it really resonates to keep sharing those experiences between private sector, between governments between academia between the civil society diasporas and the international organisations we learn a lot from each other and we need to keep building those connections that would be it from my side I hope to learn more from you thank you so much thank you so much Larissa it's always a joy to be on the same stage with you but it's more of a joy to listen to you like I've always said it's just very insightful and often when somebody would say you know the work around diaspora engagement may sound very plain you make it a lot of fun and I think in this particular space where we're talking about cultural capital you have managed to break down for us what these elements need it's basically our daily life that's how I thought about it all the way to how we communicate you know the first thing we think about I always say the language in which I dream right and all the way to the engagement that you have around that day the food you eat the engagement with the people I really liked how you also brought in not just you know breaking it down in terms of us looking at identity belonging the language and the cultural heritage but also really looking at the role of the different countries you know both from the countries of origin but also the countries of destination and bringing in the fact that diaspora and that diaspora cultural capital enriches the spaces that it is and I also dare to add for communities that are in a long time in transit to say that shapes and changes you know how many times have we heard for instance an important stop even though it's not looked at very closely for instance in Niger a lot of migrants passing through several cities that have transformed and shaped from what people do and how they engage simply because migrants are passing by in this space and how diaspora has captured that particular space but I think in many other places also in transit we can think about you know how they ask how that capital remains very important and enriches and touches if you like also a lot on the economic parts and it was also very interesting to hear the kind of having this whole of society approach right you know how do we bring in the private sector here and that becomes very important I'm always reminded of a show that I watched around food that was about chefs now I can't remember the title but it took you to very interesting chefs around the world and when you looked really in the background you found that there was something very diasporic about them as I would say for lack of another way to put that so thanks a lot but I think there's also been very important for us to talk about attentive listening and I think attentive listening is very important in engagement so that the targeting is right and also that the tailoring is done to suit the audience and here again echoing the importance of data thank you so much in bringing these reflections and for this particular segment we just want to you know take some time to reflect from a regional perspective so we have some kind of regional reflections that will come and I will ask some colleagues to come and share with us so we have Victoria Amato from the International Organization for Migration who will be sharing from the regional consultation from a Latin American perspective and from Europe Asia and Pacific we have Mariam Keburia from Georgia who is the attaché at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the department for diaspora relations and then again we will have Larissa share for us reflections from the Africa perspective so I ask that we just try to stick to some time so that we can get into the discussion I think there's a lot that's happening in the chat Martin Russell it's really nice to see you in there and I think I just wanted to echo one of the topics that you brought in talking about how fascinating indeed to get these very different insights from those that have shared the stage with us and Victoria over to you to share with us the regional consultation from the Latin American perspective Buenas tardes todos y todas Hello everyone I hope you can see my screen Brilliant Thank you very much for this base I am Victoria Amato I work as a regional assistant for human development and labour mobility for Latin America of IOM and I will now present on the cultural capital access created by diaspora and some other findings of the Latin America Association Summit in that space we formulated this question what are the challenges opportunities and key partners to build long term and sustainable mechanism to empower diaspora cultural capital when it comes to those questions we identified these points that I will explain first we identified and mapped the diaspora members in every country and taking into account the cultural diversity that there already is that we saw the need to deeper definition of affinities and diaspora communities within the framework of existing cultural diversity in order to get to know the particularities we also underlined the systematization of linkage approaches with the diaspora for example taking agreement with other ministries or foreign affairs in the region when it comes to opportunities in this consultation we mention a better usage of diaspora members for the contribution of culture and when it comes to language specifically we stress out the need of initiative to link the diaspora with the community of origin for instance through distance education services or language certification programs lastly when it comes to opportunities we also mentioned the possibility of developing digital platform for cultural empowerment of communities who are even more remote and that will promote greater linkage with the local culture in this regional consultation exercise we also identify key partners when defining key partners in order to apply those actions that were suggested we acknowledge specifically the diplomatic representation in countries of residence also the link with art and theater producers universities and departments of art music museums galleries also the link with a deep link with local ministries department of cultures with managers and cultural associations also we brought in links with ministries of education and universities and foreign affairs we wanted to identify the three main priorities in order to empower the cultural capital of diaspora in that sense we identified these three priorities that you can see on screen and what do they say we identify culture as a tool for diplomatic relation between countries we promote a positive narrative of migration as an element that then enhances the culture and economy of the countries of destination and lastly we should allocate more funds for the dissemination of cultures and to promote impact measurements when it comes to cultural dissemination that will be all on my side these are the reflections of this consultation I would like to end thank you for your attention I will give the floor to the next colleague thank you thank you very much Mariam maybe I will try thank you very much for these really really fascinating messages and information that you have kindly I think following some of the from the beginning and I'm so excited I am the part of this agency and that I personally can contribute to the our global and common challenges and common efforts that we are putting to have a better world so I'm also very grateful for this opportunity of presenting you some of the key findings also the key outcomes of our regional discussions from our group many of the things have already been highlighted of course but let me very briefly outline some things that I would love to communicate from our part so we have discussed around the three topics three basic questions and these questions were referred to the policies to the practices of our cultural diaspora engagement and advancing the cultural capital through different means policies, practices and of course the actors the key stakeholders who would be engaged in this so while discussing these three some of our colleagues have highlighted the importance of mapping and profiling the cultural capital in different countries that was one of the challenging things that was identified so that the government entities or the state agencies find it rather challenging things to have more or less more or less relevant understanding about the profiles of their diasporas and having the comprehensive mapping exercises of their diasporas in terms of cultural capital as well the next thing was about receiving states as well and the opportunities that these receiving states would offer in terms of funding schemes for instance to explore and to flourish the diaspora the cultural diversity in the receiving states of course the language as a key tool and the driving for spin in a positive form driving glue for the cultural capital for the diaspora was also highlighted and many of the speakers have brought to the attention of the audience keeping the language and was one of the key policies for sending more countries of origin especially in case of the small countries such as Georgia for example and another as was highlighted very nicely and beautifully by our previous presenters the cultural identity connectedness of course these two things have been highlighted in our regional group as well and one of the challenging things was that many of as expressed by our participants was that many people would like to be recognized of course and also to be enabled to contribute to contribute for free of course and so that was one of them I think was brought forward to enable as many diaspora representatives as possible to contribute whenever they can and it's not only about the country to diaspora relations but also the cities and the regional connections strengthening regional connections and the city to diaspora connections as well and of course one of the key points was highlighted that activation or the empowerment of young diaspora representatives they use as key drivers especially in this digital and you have some of the speakers have also highlighted as a drivers especially in the digital era mobilization mapping mobilization and empowerment of the youth representatives diaspora representatives whole of society approach was brought forward of course and we have highlighted that none of the diaspora organizations however strong or the association it is can function or have impact without close collaboration with them with different organizations none of the governments can or institutions can succeed without whole society approach and cross sector inter institutional collaboration so that was highlighted and of course one of the key things that was highlighted was the peace the peace that our world currently especially now needs in order to put all the other policies and programs and actors on the same page and to make efforts to develop further and to develop with the help of our cultural capital the cultural diaspora indeed yeah I find it rather hard to add something because most of the things were really highlighted beautifully and delivered communicated so well I'm really excited to be the part of part of the summit and I look forward to the other days as well thank you so much for having for having this opportunity for us as well thank you Maryam thank you very much for sharing those reflections from Europe Asia Pacific and now I will hand it over to Larissa to share with us reflections from the African perspective Larissa thank you so much buddy just very briefly because as it has been mentioned I think the key point here is we're all on the same page we're recognizing the same areas of where we can invest and create programs that are tailored that are having an impact so in the African consultation it was also very very inspiring to be honest to listen to the same type of reflections keep investing in and focusing on second and third generation cultural programs and I would even say to go beyond those because once we start connected with the homeland that could keep going they also reflected on keep developing cultural festivals the importance of diaspora tourism they even mentioned the power of soccer teams which is absolutely true I know from my home country that it's very important in other settings also religion is very important so again let's keep reflecting on those mechanisms to tailor the programs to the diaspora that we want to connect with in terms of key recommendations very just echoing what we have already said they talked a lot about developing cultural packages to attract different groups of diasporas and also to keep feeding connections with actors, musicians, poets even academic industries and keep promoting cultural exchanges so I think I'm very happy to listen that there is a coherence and we have a clear path of where we want to go so just thanking all the panelists for sharing what has been said in your sessions thank you very much Larissa thank you very much also to all the panelists Victoria and Mariam for sharing those reflections from a regional perspective I think it has been very enriching and with that I think I would like us to take you know all a lot of us have been speaking a lot and now we just want to open the floor for those rich discussions coming in from the floor we know that there was some interaction before even from the floor and that's very good to see there was a question that has been raised that is directed to Colombia from Tracy O'Connor Tracy did you want to give a bit of context to this or did you feel a response would be good it's a technical discussion so we we can put down the rules I know my colleagues in the technical room are looking and saying ah but we make it very light in order for us to engage in this discussion Tracy thank you Paddy it was really just your reflection as the information was being shared by Carlos just in relation to the percentage and what the numbers of migrants in Colombia or outside Colombia are in terms of the diaspora in relation to the population of the country just to get a sort of a context because it seems to be a very a very vast number from what you're saying that was all but it's not necessarily important for the discussion now it was in the moment at the time so thank you okay I just thought that was good for us to have some clarity Carlos did you want to give a quick reflection before we go into you know the interventions from this virtual floor thank you so much Paddy and of course Tracy it is an important information related with our population here in Colombia and of course our diaspora the pandemic generates movement of population in and out of Colombia so maybe the last study I know about the population the diaspora the Colombian diaspora is around five million of people around five million people so this is maybe 10% of the Colombian population and it is a huge percentage and maybe what are the most common destinations for our diaspora maybe the region here in South America countries around us our neighbors in this region like Venezuela Ecuador but of course one of the most important destinations for our diaspora is the United States Europe and particularly Spain I don't know I try to explain to show how our diasporas is moving that's I want to say about your question any other question? Thank you that's perfect thank you very much to our hosts for that and now we have some questions that we thought would be important for us to stay at the discussion and I'll just ask colleagues if that slide could be pinned up as we are coming on the idea is really for us to listen to those who are in the room please feel free to share in your reflections on these questions and just looking to see is it only from my side Fiona if you could pin those up? Super thanks Larissa just as the questions are coming up you know just raise your hand if you would like to address the question if the hand raising feature is not working on your device if you come into the chat if you were to identify that you were there Juan did you want to take the floor? Go ahead Thank you very much it's a big pleasure I would like to ask what do you consider the conferences more appropriate as a mechanism to prevent distortion or of the cultural health among the diaspora communities and how to harmonize it with the new created heritage the current heritage that is being created in the present thanks very much to everyone it's a big pleasure to be here Thank you very much and because it's an open space not just our panelists could address that one it could also be interesting to hear about the space we could probably combine that question in response to some of the guiding questions that we have in front of us and we're really trying to look at that policy pragmatic and partnership level and at each level we're trying to kind of listen into the best practices that are out there you know in relation to the specific themes that we have that have been unpacked for us and so the idea is to sort of hear so please feel free otherwise I use my arm as moderator to pick some familiar faces that I see coming up also in terms of the policy what do you identify as a collective policy action a collective action at policy level in order to achieve that global collaborative action on diaspora cultural capital and also at the programmatic level what is that collective action that is there to achieve global collaborative action also in the same space and also in the partnership level as well to just get a sense of what we're seeing as those collective actions so what are we really seeing on the ground in terms of partnerships in terms of programs, in terms of policies how are governments and how are diaspora engagement mechanisms shaped in different ways we're representing different spaces here so it would be great to hear from others Martin may I put you on the spot yeah why not I think it's a great question I think one in the sense of one of the things when we think about a policy level the first question we have to consider is who do we consider our diaspora to be and what do I mean by that if I give you an example from the Irish from the Irish context if you go talk to an Irish person that's living in the US and the Irish American they're fundamentally different conversations and in many ways how they view their sense of connection back home and their sense of cultural connection and how they want to engage culturally it's a completely different conversation so I think what's interesting there has to be a strategic decision made early in the policy process to think about what is the clear definition that we're working from here because I think that impacts in terms of what Larissa was saying in terms of how you tailor I think what's interesting as well is that we have to keep an eye out and there can be tensions within the diaspora across that area as well I don't mind telling a funny story of hosting a focus group with the Irish diaspora in Canada where you had recent immigrants who had one perspective on Ireland and you had people that were in Canada for many decades had a different perspective and they didn't necessarily align and there was a bit of tension in the room when we had that so I think what's important is to try what we design at a policy level or a programmatic level is culturally respectful of the different layers and generations that are working across our diaspora and I think that will mean different types of cultural engagement across those and I think that echoes Larissa's point about somebody maybe who's 18 to 35 we want to engage in a different way then maybe somebody that is 55 to 65 and it's about having that nuance across what we do but one of the things I would say is that I don't think anybody's one sense of community or connection should be more important than others so it's important from a government perspective I would argue that we build that nuance into what we're trying to achieve and I think my final reflection on that from a governmental point of view is that it comes back to that idea maybe the government facilitating cultural engagements because what should organically happen across the diaspora community is that there will be networks of organizations that are engaging with these different layers of the community and I think that's something what the diaspora engagement is whilst it's important we're building policies and structures and institutions that needs to happen in the diaspora as well and we need to figure out how do we build the community infrastructure across the diaspora because they have become the distribution mechanism so there's a couple of quick reflections from my end I hope that was good enough on the spot and I'll hand back in that note That was a nice icebreaker I have to say and just also again just wanting to just look into the room we have diaspora organizations but we also have representation from different spaces so for us it's also a bit to get the sense from the governments that are attending here what have you found to be for instance the greatest challenge in engaging with diaspora cultural capital I think Martin what you also just raised in terms of working across generations because often what you find I guess at that realm of an organized diaspora you've got the older generation and how much of the youth are represented on diaspora organization boards or how much of that youth engagement is coming up but also how proactive are the youth wanting to engage so I think those would be some of the interesting insights we could take from those in the room looking again into the room I think it would be great for us to hear from that there was a question and I'm putting people who are asking questions a bit on the spot but Hango Slack you asked the question that was asking about diaspora empowerment in the home country and how can government be more involved in sharing cultural heritage and I just thought from your perspective what are you seeing actually on the ground Hango did you want to share in on this I know you asked the question and I'm coming back to just hear a bit about what you were seeing from your perspective Hango Hello Yes Juan Thanks very much Thanks very much We're facing the continued process of the redeversation and modification of the original cultural heritage and we faced a dilemma how to create new heritage but at the same time how to transmit in a loyal way in a proper way with accuracy the original or the valuable real heritage that we're supposed to transmit as members of the diaspora because we face a lot of changes from our original heritage so what's the challenges where there are the alternatives the mechanism the options the suggestions because we need to be very careful with the community in which we are living in but at the same time we owe some loyalty to our original heritage so that's kind of a dilemma and I would like to hear the researchers that have big experience on that Thanks very much Again Some interesting perspective there Thank you Juan In the room we have people from Peru we have people from Nigeria Mandy I'm about to put you on the spot there to give us a bit of the Caribbean flavour in terms of the diaspora you know diaspora engagement in the UK you know how do you really see of what's working I know you're from a diaspora organisation but from your kind of engagement what is that push around cultural capital what's really happening in that space from your perspective Hi Patty It's been a really interesting discussion so far can you hear me clearly Fantastic in terms of my involvement in the whole cultural diaspora movement from day one it has always been my thing I enjoy the whole idea of us being able to share what we grew up with with those around us whether it's masquerades singing the dress the food all of it and the arts are a particular interest to me so we have always through Beyond Dianola tried to pinpoint the areas and Beyond Dianola is our diaspora focus group we are St. Lucien focus and that's part of the Caribbean I'm not assuming that everybody knows who we are and we have found that there are several persons who have either moved to the UK a long time ago born here who aren't quite all fee with what our cultural aspects with our cultural music and it's been a pleasure being able to bring it to them I can't claim to know the Creole language as well as I'd like to and it's a big thing for us to be able to teach the next generation some of those aspects of culture that we know is going to be lost if we don't do something about it so as a diaspora organization we try to highlight, pinpoint, share, collaborate as much as we can in order to promote that I'm going to bring in a bit about the policy level because St. Lucia does have a diaspora policy but interesting enough it's more focus on the economic side just linking it a bit to what Larisa was saying culture does not show strangely enough a lot in there and that has been something that we have been speaking about how do we show others what are we about if we're only going to think about the economic side of things I guess in terms of economics that is what everybody is looking for getting the funds going back to us for one reason why culture does not show up as much as one would hope and I like the way that Larisa matched the two things together showing how culture can be developed so that there is an economic side to it in terms of what many people have spoken about and alluded to how do you get culture flowing back into the diaspora I think it has to come from you wanting to know it's kind of I'm kind of hard pressed to say the government should be the one doing it I think it should come from us we should be the ones wanting to know about where we are from and that sort of love and enthusiasm would then sort of spread to others and then we can demand we can ask we can control governments to say well we are interested what can you send our way I don't think it's always from a governmental perspective that it should be developed I think the diaspora should set its own agenda for that about me I think we should be the ones to decide what we want, when we want it and how we want it and it's just about collaborating and ensuring that we are able to convey that passion so that there isn't a choice but to help us along the way so I'm going to stop there for now Great, great to hear that you know diaspora agency all the way through Kirstie Kwaten you're welcome to share Hi everyone My name is Kirstie I wanted to touch a bit on the youth side I myself am a second generation Ghanaian and I'm actually working on the process of completing my doctoral dissertation which talks about how the children of Ghanaian immigrants maintain their connections to Ghana I just kind of wanted to encourage everyone to remember that second gen folks said that it's on us to kind of have the desire to learn more about our culture and heritage and at least in the Ghanaian context, second gen are definitely taking on the desire to learn more about Ghana on their own and they're creating diaspora organizations that are relevant to their needs that they have as second generation Ghanaians and these orgs focus a lot on arts, history and culture and things of that nature and I just also wanted to talk about there's a big festival in Ghana that's been taking place over the last few years called Afrochella and this it's a big it's music, it's arts, it's culture it's fashion, all the things that we're talking about and this festival was actually created by two second gen Ghanaians from New York and you can see that the desire that they had to not only learn more about their culture but to share Ghanaian and African culture with the world has created this massive festival where people from all over the continent, all over the world come so it's not only sharing culture but it's also contributing to Ghana's economic development because this is a festival that takes place in a crowd Ghana, Ghana's capital and kind of related to that there definitely is amongst again we always talk about second gen Ghanaians but in our community there is at least what I've seen from my research as well, there's a connection between what I call the identity economy so culture and financial capital so people who want to connect with Ghana, they might not have had a lot of opportunities to go to Ghana they might not be able to speak their language well but because they are raised in Ghanaian homes where they're hearing their languages being spoken, they're eating the food so they're aware of their cultural heritage and identity even if they can totally relate to it so in that people they're trying to find ways to connect to Ghana in ways that make sense for them so one way is through fashion so people will make things that have like map of Ghana or map of Africa using different Ghanaian symbols the world they will wear the hoodies the jewelry that has different symbols and things on it so there's a lot of different ways that second gen I know there's time, I don't want to go over too much but I just wanted to give some examples in which to show how the youth, the second gen that we care that we are involved, we're not disconnected like a lot of people think think that we are and in some ways we're even leading the charge in regards to cultural capital thank you Thank you very much for those reflections and as we say it's always great to hear from the youth yourselves and in bringing in these reflections very live to us as we make all this listening even from this particular forum very intentional thank you for sharing I wonder if I could bring in Frank Frank Dosa did you want to share with us a little bit with some reflections knowing that a lot of what you are doing so it's really interesting to hear from this diaspora enterprise point of view how do you see that I'm giving you a question I know Frank as you're coming on but how you're also seeing that interplay with cultural capital Frank the floor is yours Hi, I seem to be having trouble getting my videos I was thinking that the communities more often in the global south how pushing the cultural capital as an engagement mechanism is quite key to build on that sustainability and engagement especially when you're looking at a trend of government and how you maintain relationships with the diaspora throughout the duration of time I think is a key way to push and maintain diaspora engagement and I think it's a great way of selling the importance of the cultural aspect because often we look at other capital financial and the culture is not often taken seriously and I think it has that advantage to build bridges in ways that we don't often value Thank you Frank for bringing in those reflections Zoya from Armenia are you able to share with us Zoya Hello Hi you're welcome I was not prepared frankly speaking but will be happy to share some thoughts we had today our ministry of desk were participating in several events I guess they already presented our many perspectives issues for cultural capital I mean Armenia is a diasporic nation to various historical circumstances we have our communities all over the world and I was listening to very inspiring speeches of very inspiring perspectives new ideas what comes to my mind is the issue of interconnectedness and influence on both ways normally we speak about Armenian diaspora brought how they tell the world about Armenia but it's also important how this diaspora used to tell Armenia about the world especially when we live for example in Soviet era when this interaction and exposure was much less when we're no internet and no interconnectedness so our perspective Armenian diaspora communities who came back who repatriated played a great role in that historical for example time in bringing in you know different cultures different different languages for example we had a huge number of professors in universities who used to live abroad and who were bringing this knowledge of the governance of the countries that we otherwise have no connection to I remember for example Sudanese Armenians who came back to Soviet Armenia and who were kind of representing this sports of culture that we would normally back then wouldn't you know able to approach and to have relations with when it comes to our communities you know they are very much institutionalized they have been institutionalized as such and so at the moment if I look at the structures that we have those are schools mostly Sunday schools where kids are teaching learning language dances and so but also you know educational institutions with the introduction of internet with digital technologies our diaspora communities managed to establish several institutions online platform for explicitly for language learning both eastern Armenian and the western one which is you know largely spoken in our diaspora communities the role of faith-based organizations was highlighted here if I may share some thoughts on that it is significant it is significant in terms of preservation of national identity and also in terms of bridging in different communities and different religions even in terms of intercultural and interreligious dialogue if I may put it that's this way but again various churches outside Armenia who would bring these bridges another important point is cultural industries that I would a little bit touch upon not only in terms of you know concerts and the in our case in the centers when we have larger Armenian communities in the United States in Russia in other places this is the first destination where Armenian for example cultural industries and cultural organizations with the concert but also in terms of you know export of cultural goods from Armenia to these spots and from there to Armenia so again these bridges in a purely civilization of your perspective purely cultural perspective this is I think also important when it comes to institutions again my very personal opinion it's it is also important not to over-regulate I think because diasporas operate in a largely informal setting and it is good that there's a they feel their keen state you know their but sometimes you feel that those are independent institutions those are institutions that have their own logic of operating have their own agenda in some cases have their specificities and it is important for us you know for our policymakers for bureaucracies not to impose too much you know ruling and regulation there in these informal settings especially when it comes to culture especially when it comes to creative sectors and areas where this free expression is important what else can I add I'm sure my colleagues from the minister of the from the high commissioner for diaspora will you more in terms of our you know our priorities for the coming years one more thing that one small example that I just wanted to highlight is after independence we have during the last 10 years found very successful diaspora this diaspora engagement project which was a center for creative technologies for IT for which and free education and it is you know at this moment Armenia is pioneering and are opening are helping other countries to open this kind of creative centers for example there is one in France and so on and so forth so this is the perfect creative I developed this local potential and now it's going back to the world if I may put it so so and it's the culture it's learning educational opportunities it's all together so I guess this is one of the let's say success stories but there are many and I wish we had more time and I would be more prepared to share some but thank you very much Thank you for sharing from that wealth of information from the Armenian perspective I think it has been an absolutely enriching listen to the many things that you have shared but also the interconnections between various elements from language to education the use of technology and also working across generations thank you very much for sharing with us Maria would you like to come in? Thank you very much I wanted to just bring to your attention two points one thing was about difficulties to translate culture related dimension of diaspora engagement into policies and from my perspective and because I've been engaged in diaspora policy design or coordination for some time it's because it's a value-led policy while talking about culture and engaging and enhancing diaspora's cultural capital it's very much focused on values and then translating values into policies and you know regulations is one of the in my understanding one of the challenging things another thing that I wanted to highlight and I'm sure you agree with me in our case for instance is that now especially in times of Covid or in times of war in Ukraine the cultural actors diaspora have become much more important than or it has become kind of a floor for them to act because people would look at them as people working in the culture or people dedicating devoting themselves to culture how they would react how they would take a lead and I think that this unfortunate and very challenging times have also on the other hand become shown us everybody how much these people matter and how much what they do and maybe they don't always show or maybe they cannot always be seen or translated or reflected in the policies and practices now we know and go back to them and see what they do how they take a lead and we want to share as much stories or retweet as much messages posts from what our cultural champions rock stars as from Kingsley Ikins would put it diaspora rock stars right how they react how they respond so I'm glad that we have lots of professionals who we can address to in these difficult times thank you Mary I'm absolutely and just also being engaged with support to particularly African students and nationals coming out of Ukraine you see how at some point you know even just with crisis how culture really does play a role for instance mental health you know the accessibility to mental health knowing that mental health is available but you know how do you navigate that part as well so while mental health is something that's looked at by probably in a very in a medical space it really comes to how is it look like in a cultural perspective and many different concepts that also have to come in just you know where the diaspora comes and makes bridges but I also think precisely what you have mentioned that what Zoya was talking about this part of this value led you know it's a value led engagement and then we're talking about regulations so you know maybe coming into what Mandy had said just let us think let us do our thing and then you know on cultural capital how about you know we don't handle it maybe the way economic capital is handled you know and that's that's sort of very important maybe not having a one size fits all with diaspora but really looking at the diaspora in front of you and you know what values are being handed over but I also think the role of religious groups remains very important because that's an important part of people's value systems as well you see it also in crisis one example that comes to mind and I'm trying to come in with some reflections here as we are closing shortly but maybe I should hold that thought because Carlos I would like to hear from you thank you so much party I just want to say that I'm very happy to be here to be here hearing your thoughts your ideas your experience related with diaspora I want to share maybe my thoughts about this discussion about the diaspora and online with Larissa I consider that diasporic citizenship maybe I'm creative saying that things we can start highlighting that globally diaspora can consider actors maybe origin countries by one hand by the other hand residence for the Sinaiton countries but in the middle are the diaspora the society the people who decide migrate to me rate and culturally the diaspora the background cultural background between the culture from the region country by the other hand the destination country the residence country there is a mix that cultural mix between and this is the reason why somebody here talk about the heart that can be considered analyzed and build for these people that is an invitation invitation not just for the residence country but the origin countries there is a chance to build a global agreement between the ways we must to behave what we expect as a society in relation with the diaspora these macro actors because I consider the country as a graph the origin country as a graph and the destination country as a graph but the other graph maybe the most important graph in the discussion of this work here is the diaspora by itself and why what we can build for this a graph of people so in general the approach that Larissa show us related with policy partnership and program it is important because the populations or the people or the actors maybe better said the actors in the situation the country origin country destination country and the diaspora but we have policies in the origin country and the destination country but what will be the best policy for the diaspora that this is a complex population I want to close with this comment and say thank you for the opportunity to share with you my talks about this important topic thank you so much thank you very much for sharing those reflections I just wanted to check before I will ask Larissa to also share her reflections we have a minute more for us to hear from the audience some hands had been raised I think maybe I have missed one or two hands please feel free to share Larissa you have the floor thank you very briefly I want to share one personal experience not at all IOM but more researcher my personal research in Belgium actually so one day I was walking the grey Belgium and I came across a store that sells Mexican art and of course I was very excited so I got in and I realized that the person that was in charge of the store was a Belgian who had lived in Mexico created connection in Mexico and then brought the Mexican art and then that person that particular store I was also doing my PhD in the Mexican community in Belgium so I knew them they were very active in terms of creating Dia de Muertos national holiday that you may know and they partnered directly with this Belgian to start creating connections between not only the Mexicans already living there the diaspora but also the host community that have been traveling before to Mexico so we keep creating these threads and I will tell you the story just very short at the beginning the Mexicans creating this Dia de Muertos day and festival they didn't have funds they managed to get funds first because of that alliance with this Belgian store who then managed to get funding from the Belgian government and then the Mexican government was very attracted by this because of this diplomacy, soft power discussions that we have been having in this panel and then also they started getting involved and now it's an institutionalized festival that happens every year so just to really unpack all these beautiful connections that happen and I think when people have the will definitely there is a way so just circling back to the funds and all of this thank you so much for all your insightful inputs in the chat also absolutely what a great example indeed as others have shared and also just adding to some of the comments that have been shared Tracy was just saying wouldn't it be a great opportunity at some point to have diaspora going home facilitated for cultural visits as well as discounted travel and accommodation and I think you've seen these kind of examples in certain places as well where diaspora are being attracted to come back home and gain culture experience particularly when people are talking about for instance developing ecotourism and what you see sort of as the role of diaspora in that space so some really interesting reflections even in the chat I wondered Lisa Bryant are you able to share some reflections Lisa all right well I think that there is a lot that has been unpacked and as always it's always difficult to kind of give these closing remarks as such before I will hand over to our host for this technical working group to officially close the technical working group but I think some of the examples that have been shared today and some of the stories and even through our storytelling even in this particular session I think they do tell us the value in exchanging a lot of the information in exchanging in sharing a lot of who we are from our language from our cultural heritage perspective from the languages that we speak from the identities that we carry and also from the belongings and in spaces that we feel attached to so I think it's in youth engagement is something that has been highlighted working across generations is very important and how to understand that engagement really has to be intentional with a lot of active listening not just from governments but I think that has also been echoed to for instance structured that's for organizations or even in spaces where the youth are engaging in order for us to understand what they have in the so-called identity economy you know what are they trying to look for in seeking these identities I also think what has come out is leveraging on technology how language for instance has been the learning of you know keeping on the learning of languages home country languages have been sustained through technology and reminded myself the very first time that I saw one of Zambia has 73 I'm from Zambia and we have 73 dialects and about seven main languages and so it can be hard to pick even in a family where you have four of those languages but we are seeing even in that kind of environment where some of these languages are being taught in you know in spaces where there is diaspora and that becomes a very important connection for the younger generation particularly in identifying with home but I think we've also heard about how you know culture is that fuel and the glue coming from Larissa as well spelt out really well there but also from the host government really chiming in talking about how intentional they are in commemorating culture as as part of capital looking at cultural capital in its own right giving it its own space and really understanding that there is value in the diversity that is there the role of various actors from religious organizations, private sector various diaspora organizations themselves has really been brought as well so that range of diverse actors trying to make sure that you know capturing that cultural capital or cultivating the cultural capital is something that is targeted and that's something that is very tailor made it's been also interesting to hear about the role of the various countries the home country itself but also places where people are calling home so the destination countries and also chiming in a bit on the transit countries it's been really really interesting to just touch on different geographical experiences of how diaspora engage and but particularly how diaspora want to nurture this cultural capital how do we continue to nurture it a lot of interesting recommendations that came out from those regional consultations but also very much echoing how we've got to not have a very rigid tool if you want or rigid mechanisms but also to have a lot of dynamism as we approach and allow diaspora to speak from itself and allow those voices to come out all the way through from policy all the way through to action but we've also heard of how some things probably don't have to be regulated so we don't kill the creativity it's been an absolute pleasure to be your moderator and I will now hand back to our host and ask Ambassador Cortes to close the session for us thank you I think she mentioned in the chat that she had to leave but she was going to be able to call back so she may not be here yeah so maybe she hasn't heard hello may we have the honour of you closing the session or did you want to just check for a minute if Ambassador is able to avail herself who would like to give her the opportunity to bid us farewell from this wonderful house well I can maybe my thoughts were summarized with my intervention but if I suggest use this time with people who have mentioned nothing in the past okay it's an open house so maybe we can have one more minute if there was someone who has had a thought, a burning issue or even just to share with us one of the things I thought that would be very interesting because we've talked a lot about food and I'm feeling quite hungry not only because it's evening in Europe but I'm also full of the knowledge that we have around here but I think it would also be very nice just to you know to recognize where we're sitting and where we are and in the chat if we could be able to say our goodbyes in our own languages because I know if we open the mic we're probably not able to hear each other but you know as we would be leaving the room at some point after Mr Carlos has given us the final farewell we could just plot into the chat how you would say goodbye in your own language thank you Mr Carlos over to you Mr Carlos as a closing an invitation an invitation to think about in the the heroic process in the migration process opportunity as a chance as a chance to generate development to generate social capital in general as a glue for the future of the society for a better world. Thank you so much for your thoughts. Thank you so much for your reflections. And thank you so much for hearing me and environment to participate of this discussion. Have a nice day. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Mr. Carlos. And on that, I think until we meet again, walk good and many more goodbyes in the various languages. Thank you very much for today.