The Kick-off Workshop of the DIASPEACE project was organised at Hôtel des Colonies, Rue des Croisades 6-10, 1210 Brussels, Belgium, on May 5th-6th, 2008. The workshop was organised by A team from the University of Jyväskylä, Project Coordinator, consisting of Julia Ojanen, Liisa Laakso, Päivi Pirkkalainen and Pekka Virtanen. Altogether some 23 participants attended the two-day workshop, including representatives from each of the eight partner organisations, the EC and our sister project INFOCON. The team was especially pleased to welcome three representatives from the project's African partner organisations, notably Dr. Kassahun Berhanu and Dr. Gebre Yntiso from FSS in Addis Ababa and Ms. Naima Abdullahi from APD in Hargeisa.  Read more....

From October 27th – 31st 2008, the 13th International Metropolis Conference was held at Bonn, attracting about 800 delegates from all over the world to discuss the complex links between migration, integration and development as well as the resulting challenges in terms of policy coherence and reform. The conference was hosted by the Ministry of Intergenerational Affairs, Family, Women and Integration of the State of North-Rhine Westphalia, and offered about 100 workshops bringing together researchers, practitioners and policy makers.

Within the framework of this conference, the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC) organized a workshop entitled “African diaspora groups as facilitators of peace and development”. This workshop discussed in what ways African diaspora groups in Europe get involved in peace processes in their countries of origin as well as the scope of cooperation with European NGOs and development agencies. Read more....

On 3 July 2009, the ADPC hosted a workshop in Amsterdam aimed at facilitating access among diaspora organisations active in conflict resolution and peacebuilding in their countries of origin to the preliminary findings of the DIASPEACE research project. The programme included the presentation of emerging issues from case studies in Italy and Germany, and diaspora participants shared their experiences in the Netherlands. Read more....

The DIASPEACE research project coordinated by the University of Jyväskylä (JYU), in collaboration with “Security, governance and identities in Flux- the Role of Diaspora in Development of the Horn of Africa” research project (financed by the Academy of Finland and coordinated by JYU) and Finnish Somalia Network (www.somaliaverkosto.net) organized a CO-OPERATION SEMINAR FOR HORN OF AFRICA ORGANISATIONS on 5 October 2009 in the premises of the University of Helsinki.  Read more....


DIASPEACE News No 4, 2009

DIASPORA ENGANGEMENT IN THE HORN OF AFRICA CO-OPERATION FOR FOSTERING PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT.  Co-operation Seminar for Horn of Africa Organisations Saturday, 14 November 2009, 10:30-18:00 Bonn, Germany.


The Final Conference of the DIASPEACE and INFOCON projects was held on December 16-18, 2010, at Fondation Universitaire premises in Brussels. It was a climate neutral conference. Below, you find the conference programme and a selection of photos from the conference (by Cornelia Smet). Read more ...

DIASPEACE News No 1, 2011


DIASPEACE- project in collaboration with the Finnish Somalia-Network organised the event on 28 February 2011 to launch the Handbook for Practitioners and Policymakers titled “Participation of Diasporas in Peacebuilding and Development?” Around 40 participants, consisting of the diaspora members mainly of Somali origin, researchers and representatives of Finnish development NGOs and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland (MFA) attended the launch and took part in the lively discussion.  Read more...