Africa's secret weapon: The diaspora
updated 7:06 AM EDT, Fri November 1, 2013
Amini Kajunju: Connecting Africa and the United States
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- African Diaspora can boost continent's prosperity, says Amini Kajunju
- They can dispel myths about Africa and help shape foreign policy, she says
- Skilled diasporan professionals are investing in Africa
Editor's note: A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Amini Kajunju is the first African woman to ever serve at the helm of The Africa-America Institute, the oldest nonprofit organization of its kind in the United States.
(CNN) -- Each year, bright, optimistic Africans
leave home to earn an education or seek a better economic life abroad
for themselves and their families. With fewer opportunities in their
home country, many never return home.
The African Diaspora is
broadly defined by the African Union Commission as "peoples of African
origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship
and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of
the continent and the building of the African Union."
Globally, Africans in the
diaspora are spread out across the continents. In North America, there
are 39 million from the African Diaspora; 113 million in Latin America;
13.6 million in the Caribbean; and 3.5 million in Europe, the World Bank estimates. Read more
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