New Diversities vol. 16, No. 2, 2014 ISSN ISSN-Print 2199-8108 ▪ ISSN-Internet 2199-8116 Understanding Diaspora Organisatons in European Development Cooperaton – Approaches, Challenges and Ways Ahead* by Nauja Kleist (Danish Insttute for Internatonal Studies) Abstract This artcle examines how Northwestern European development aid agencies support the development actvites of diaspora organisatons, especially in fragile situatons. The artcle interrogates the perceived relatonship between diaspora involvement and development, and how this percepton is refected in the ways in which development agencies collaborate with diaspora organisatons through mainstream funding schemes, special diaspora initatves and network support. Three tendencies are identfed: a high emphasis on technical fxes; a tension between perceptons of diaspora organisatons as special development agents and a mainstreaming ideal; and, fnally, that diaspora organisatons appear as partcularly risky recipient groups to some development professionals because of their personal involvement in the country of origin. The artcle further argues that policy incoherence as well as underlying notons of development as planned, professionalized and based on a sedentary bias contribute to the marginal role diaspora organisatons currently play in the professional development feld. Keywords: development cooperaton, development policies, diaspora, diaspora organisatons, migraton-development nexus, policy incoherence Introducton Since the early 2000s diaspora organisatons have come to the atenton of European development aid agencies as implementers of and partners in development cooperaton. In contrast to the private and ofen family-based nature of remit- tances – the main focus of the global migraton- development debate – collectve remitances from diaspora organisatons generally focus on the local community level or are intended to beneft broader parts of the populaton through support to social service provision, infrastructure, or civil society. Likewise diaspora organisatons are sometmes perceived to consttute linkages between Western societes and their homelands in some development circles (BMZ 2014; Turner and Kleist 2013). They have therefore emerged as actors in the migraton-development nexus. This artcle aims to contribute to the debate on the development potental of collectve diaspora contributons by focusing on diaspora organisa- tons 1 . It examines how European development aid agencies engage with diaspora organisatons as potental agents of change. I use the term diaspora organisaton to refer to organisatons based on origin in a partcular place or country of personal or ancestral origin that do not coin- 1 Parts of the artcle have been published in an ear- lier version in Kleist and Vammen (2012). * I thank Ninna Nyberg Sørensen as well as two anonymous peer reviewers for valuable comments to an earlier version of the artcle. Likewise, I thank employees at CISU and the DRC Diaspora Programme for much appreciated tme and help.