AS the Diaspora Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation gears up to roll out the mapping of skillset within the diaspora, the unit was engaged virtually by the European Union’s Global Diaspora Facility (EUDIF) on Thursday.

This webinar saw comprehensive presentations from EUDIF on how Guyana can carefully implement mechanisms and models that exist in other countries to encourage persons in the diaspora to return to Guyana and provide support and required skills in the various sectors.

EUDIF Capacity Development Specialist, Diana Hincu, underscored that diaspora skillset is not merely centred on the economical capital they have to share, but also their reputation which can lead to access to their networks and social capital.

“When we talk about diaspora capital, we mean not only the financial capital. Lately there’s a growing interest in tapping into diaspora human capital, so diaspora can also offer skills, knowledge, experience and social capital,” she explained.

While adding that Guyana has an important role to play in diaspora skills transfer, Hincu highlighted two mechanisms that could target the Guyanese diaspora for their return, and those include Talent Attraction Programmes and Short-Term Human Capital Transfer.

Those, she said, could be implemented in the long term or short term by the government, private sector and other organisations.

EUDIF Knowledge Management and Research Officer, Dr. Fanny Tittel-Mosser, also contributed to the discussion, adding that, in order to ascertain the willingness of the diaspora to participate, one must fully understand the skills of the diaspora.

In doing so, she referenced a diaspora study that was conducted in Madagascar, where steps were pursued through preparation, identifying gaps and the collection of data.

In commending the models that EUDIF has engaged with in different countries, Deputy Chief Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, Dr. Ritesh Tularam, said that it is necessary to understand how Guyana could operationalise and institutionalise those models while understanding the significant transformational agenda currently taking place in Guyana.

“Understanding Guyana’s cultural and socio-economic position, what would be a possible model Guyana can adopt and implement to ensure that we derive maximum benefit from the diaspora?” Dr. Tularam questioned.

Acknowledging that this is a long journey, Hincu said that there is a need to look into what Guyana needs; this requires a vision, and functional and structural systems.

She also said that the process must be undertaken in phases such as assessment of sectoral needs (profiling the diaspora), creating mechanisms to target the diaspora and evaluating the pilot phase.

President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Rafeek Khan, weighed in on the discussion by pointing out that understanding sectoral needs has been ongoing over the years, and needs assessments were done by various organisations in Guyana.

He said that human resource, professional services, electrical and mechanical fields are in high demand.

“At this point, we should try to get the Private Sector to engage volunteers who are anxious to be involved in every sector,” he suggested, while also sharing his optimism to disseminate information that will assist in connecting skills in the diaspora.

Contributing to the conversation was Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Paul Cheong, who endorsed that this engagement is necessary because Guyana is at a stage of development, where different programmes must be implemented to attract the diaspora.

“With the growth of our economy, the size of our population and the level of economic activity, we need much more human resource to execute the different projects and we, therefore, must develop programmes to reach the different skills we’re targetting,” Cheong said.

In reiterating portions of the presentations by EUDIF, Head of the Diaspora Unit, Rosalinda Rasul, said that in order to ascertain whether Guyana has the capacity to absorb certain skills, information is needed from the various sectors in order to place the people accordingly. She also acknowledged that Guyana can learn from the models and practices adopted by other countries.
This April, the Diaspora Unit will be hosting a Multi Stakeholder Forum that will see government officials, private sector leaders, Ministry of Labour, Guyana’s missions overseas and others coming together to develop a model that will determine how to attract and engage the diaspora and tap into to their skills across all sectors.

Also attending and participating in the webinar were Guyana’s Ambassador to the United States, Samuel Hinds; Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Paloma Mohamed; representatives of the Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency of the Ministry of Labour, other recruitment agencies and members of Guyana’s Missions overseas including the United Kingdom, Suriname, Canada, Trinidad and Barbados.