MEDIA RELEASE
Kenyan Diaspora Conference Takes Place in Nairobi
By Onyango Oloo, Committee Member (Media & Outreach)
A one day Kenya Diaspora Home Coming Conference takes place at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in the Kenyan capital on Tuesday, December 13, 2011.
The conference is organized by the Government of Kenya through the Office of the Prime Minister in collaboration with the Kenyan Diaspora and the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA). Partnership has been sought from Kenya’s private/business sector with the home grown financial giant, Equity Bank, emerging as the main corporate sponsor of the gathering. The Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Immigration are also taking an active part in putting the meeting together.
Several hundred delegates from North America, Europe, the Middle East, other parts of Africa and around the world are expect to attend the conference.
The meeting whose theme is Diaspora: Getting Plugged, kicks off with the registration of participants between 8 and 8:30 am (East African Time) followed by a networking breakfast. After the singing of the national anthem at 9:30 am, John Maina, the Diaspora Affairs Advisor in the Office of the Prime Minister and a long time resident of the United States before his recent relocation to Kenya will make the opening remarks as he introduces the theme of the conference and provides an overview of the proceedings of the day.
The chief guest and key note speaker, the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Amolo Odinga will then be invited to address the assembled participants at approximately 10:15 am as he declares the conference officially and formally opened.
The Prime Minister’s speech will then be followed by an interactive question and answer chat session with the participants who are drawn from all over the world with some having arrived in the country as early as the previous week. There will be a tour of the Vendors’ Pavilion before the lunch break scheduled for 1 pm.
The afternoon session will feature presentations on “Opportunities in Investment” by a representative of Equity Bank, the main corporate sponsor of the Conference, followed by an address by a representative of Kenyans in the Diaspora.
After a short health break, participants will be encouraged to “vote with their feet” as they fan out for the different breakaway sessions which have been organized thematically to focus on key areas and topics like gender; youth; civil society; the private sector; IT and innovative science; national development and so on. This breakaway sessions are designed to elicit wide ranging exchanges, discussion and debate as visiting Kenyans from the diaspora interact with their home based sisters and brothers (some of them returnees from abroad).
The day will wrap up with a dinner for the delegates at the world famous Carnivore Restaurant off Langata Road.
There are six stated objectives for the Diaspora Home Coming Conference:
i. To share local investment opportunities with the Kenya Diaspora;
ii. To facilitate the growth and development of productive networks and linkages of the Diaspora with Kenyan institutions, organizations and firms, in different areas (youth, medical, academia, technology, engineering, etc) for national development;
iii. To highlight and encourage the achievements of Diaspora in different fields and to explore how their resources, knowledge, skills, competences, technology, among others, can be harnessed systematically for Kenya’s political, economic and socio-cultural development;
iv. To launch partnership between Kenya, government, civil society and private sector with the Diaspora in implementing Kenya’s Vision 2030 and ensure that the Diaspora remains engaged in the development of Kenya – from remittances to investment and entrepreneurship;
v. To enhance the Diaspora’s role as the country’s premier goodwill ambassadors; and
vi. To sensitize the Diaspora on the implementation and implications of the new constitution for them.
The committee members at the core of planning the conference anticipate three broad outcomes and results. There is an expectation that the conference will enable the Diaspora to act in synergy and
(i) Design a collaborative strategy that addresses key issues regarding their engagement with the Government and other stakeholders in reference to the new constitution;
(ii) Develop a plan for the projects, programs, and strategies that the Diaspora would participate in as key stakeholders in the implementation of Vision 2030 and the new constitution dispensation; and
(iii) Generate an Action Plan (drawn from lessons learnt) for future Conferences.
For more information please press on the following link:
You can also contact:
John Maina
Diaspora Affairs Advisor,
Office of the Prime Minister
Nairobi, Kenya.
Phone: 0700719943
jmaina@primeminister.go.ke
About the Author
Hello,
Are you serious.
Ean Wuod Luo
How foolish are these Diasporian Kenyans who seems not to be living in modern times!How can somebody living and working hard to save his money go and invest his/her hard earned cash to Hyenas ready to devour a carcase.Why should one Invest in a country of con-men/women. Insecurity in kenya has failed miserably.Corruption ,theft and thuggery is the order of the day.The govt of Kenya is bull-dozing houses built by some of many diasporans,Title deeds are no longer valid documents in kenya,Let any foolish diasporian be investing at her/his own risk.
Smart Kenyans in the diaspora cannot trust Kibaki/Uhuru Corrupt regime!Uhuru and coy are busy trying to buy votes from the diasporian communities hence the 2012 elections will be the Mothers &fathers of all battles in Kenya btw the Status/Quosts and reformers whose aims is to loot corruption and deal with impunity pepetrated by Gema- hegemony ans origarchic feudal system.