Afghan Diaspora Engagement in Europe (ADEE)

Our engagement for the Afghan diaspora in Europe aims at supporting increased dialogue and agency within the Afghan diaspora in Europe. This project will strive to improve coordination, increase collaboration across organisations and facilitate higher level of engagement and influence for the Afghan diaspora in Europe.  

DRC will start by establishing an Afghan Diaspora Advisory Board (ADAB) to inform both the content and execution of the following activities.  

1. A series of online thematic workshops to explore topics of joint interest to the Afghan diaspora.
2. A 3.5-day Professional Development Course on Advocacy for Afghan Diaspora to strengthen participants’ capacity, expertise, and knowledge in advocating for the rights of Afghans in need of protection.
3. A dialogue between Afghan diaspora women and Members of European Parliament event to provide a platform to Afghan diaspora women to voice their concerns and start a dialogue with key European Union stakeholders.
4. An online Information sharing event to discuss how Afghan diaspora could contribute towards the humanitarian response in Afghanistan.  
5. An online advocacy workshop for Afghan diaspora in Europe aims to discuss and underline the advocacy priorities and position of Afghan diaspora in Europe.
6. A 2-day Afghan diaspora European conference. The first day will focus on “Getting together”. It will be internal and focus on how the diaspora can better coordinate and collaborate, The second day will be: “A call for action” and will bring external actors to the table for exchange on the role of the diaspora.
7. A 1-day online development training on development policy towards Afghanistan to enable the diaspora to direct their proposals and demands to those responsible actors and institutions.

Our initial engagement had the following 3 components aiming at setting the analytical framework for our programming. 

1. A study & mapping of the Afghan diaspora in Europe in collaboration with the Maastricht University: “Afghan diaspora in Europe”.
2. A series of national consultations to better understand the needs of diaspora organizations.
3. The first Afghan diaspora conference in Europe, discussing the finding from the study and discussing key thematic that came out of the consultations.  

2019 was also the beginning of our collaboration with the Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC), who also held a conference in 2019 resulting in the : “Guide to Afghan Diaspora engagement in Europe”. Our first joint event was an online workshop on Covid-19 in Afghanistan in 2020. We will continue collaborating with VIDC and other relevant organisations supporting the Afghan diaspora, to ensure best possible outcomes for the Afghan diaspora.