Home help.

Increasing numbers of people from UK-based diaspora communities are heading home as volunteers, and sharing their skills in the land of their fathers. Marcus Dunk reports.

When Anisa Johnny was last in Sierra Leone, the country felt like paradise. An early childhood spent climbing trees, playing on beautiful beaches and swimming in crystal-clear streams had given the UK-born Anisa idyllic memories of her parents' homeland. But in the 12 years since she last set foot in the west African nation, a lot has changed for Sierra Leone. A ten-year civil war for starters, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, human rights atrocities, rampant destruction and the displacement of more than 2 million people.

"I couldn't believe the changes" says the 29-year-old London-based fashion designer. "Everything beautiful I remembered from my early years there seemed to have been destroyed, and things seem to have gone backwards. It was a shock, but the one thing that hadn't changed were the people, who are amazing. They are so optimistic and resilient even in the toughest of circumstances. It gave me hope."

For Anisa and the other 12 volunteers who travelled to Sierra Leone in March with AFFORD (the African Foundation for Development), this hope fuelled a desire to assist in the development of the country. All of them members of the African diaspora in the UK, the 13 volunteers each had personal, family ties to Sierra Leone, and a strong desire to see the country of their roots succeed. Being a member of a diaspora community was the impetus to get involved. "It's always been in my heart to get involved" says Anisa, "so when the opportunity arose, I went for it."

Overlooked and under-reported, diaspora communities like this play a crucial role in international development. The support they give to their home countries, whether through political advocacy, transferring skills or sending money home, can dwarf almost other forms of aid. In 2002, the official flow of remittances (money sent by individuals to family and friends back home) reached an estimated $88 billion, although the unofficial figure may have been twice that amount. Compare that to official aid sources, and the diaspora contribution wins hands down.
Just as important is the local knowledge and expertise that exists in these communities. Throughout the developed world, tens of thousands of skilled and experienced people in diaspora communities not only have a clear sense of what needs to be done in their home countries, but often have access to strong networks to help make this happen.

For Anisa - who runs her own business selling European and African-influenced clothing to retailers such as Top Shop - returning to Sierra Leone to volunteer gave her an opportunity to share her business skills with local entrepreneurs. "We initially went thinking we'd be teaching business-organisation and how to write business plans", she says. "But it quickly became clear that that wasn't really an option."
With illiteracy a major problem, it turned out that a number of local people who came for guidance could neither read nor write. Business-plan writing was hastily substituted with an informal business surgery where Anisa and her colleagues offered hands-on advice and tips to the budding entrepreneurs. "It was amazing to see the impact that simple concepts had," she recalls. "Little things like the difference between net profit and gross profit, basic ideas of customer service, and essential business concepts which we just take for granted - for them it was revolutionary. "

"The best thing was seeing a change in mind-set." she adds. "At first people were coming to the surgeries looking for money, but within 24 hours they realised they could generate more income from local sources and from developing their businesses." One woman in particular brought home to Anisa just how life-changing simple advice could be. "She was an elderly widow who had a lot of grandchildren and other dependents who relied on her. She ran a business selling firewood on the street outside her house, which she would pay men from the countryside to collect and transport to her. The business was a success, but the problem was that she wasn't saving any of the money. She kept all the takings at her house, and, knowing this, members of her family and the community would constantly turn up asking for money, and she found their pleas really hard to resist.

"I was able to explain to her basic ideas about saving, about opening a bank account and putting a certain amount aside each week, which she absolutely loved. Now, by the end of the year, she's going to be able to afford to buy her own truck to transport the firewood. Seeing something like that is just so humbling and exciting. Without wanting to sound arrogant, I think being familiar with the culture, being able to speak the language and understand the nuances, meant that I could get to grips with a situation and give advice in a way that a volunteer without that background wouldn't have been able to."

With such expertise, knowledge and willingness, the potential for volunteering that people like Anisa offer is huge. It is little wonder then, that the UK's foremost volunteering organisation, VSO, has begun to recognise the importance of unlocking this potential.

"We see that working with the diaspora community will be an increasingly important part of volunteering in the future" says Alache Ode is 'the Diaspora Volunteering Initiative Programme Manager' for VSO. "We've partnered with five diaspora organisations to support them in developing their own programmes. We provide the technical and financial support, they provide the volunteers, the ideas and the placements." One such organisation that has benefited from a VSO partnership is the Asian Foundation for Philanthropy (AFP) - an NGO that has now begun to recruit UK Asians for short-term placements throughout India. Last year they sent three volunteers to local Indian organisations who work with untouchables, and another that works alongside Indians with disabilities. It proved a huge success And they are now planning to extend their recruiting.

For members of diaspora communities, an increased incentive to volunteer is the fact that placements do not necessarily have to be long-term. "We did a lot of research, and discovered that more people would be interested in volunteering if the placements were short-term" says Bala Thakrar, Director of the Asian Foundation for Philanthropy. "So instead of one or two years, we ask for a minimum of four weeks, and if anyone wants to go for over six months, we automatically refer them to VSO."

This was ideal for Manja Kargbo, a 27-year-old community worker who spent a couple of weeks away from her job in London on a placement in Sierra Leone, assisting as a translator, giving business advice and getting involved in a project to restore the national museum. "I'd seen a lot about international volunteers working in Africa," says Manja, "I support that, but I believe that being from the same culture as local colleagues can help a volunteer to add value."

It is this sense of adding value, and of continuing involvement and support once the volunteer has returned home, that makes diaspora volunteering such an exciting development. "Now that we're doing it, we wonder why we weren't doing it before" says Alache Ode from VSO. Over the coming year, the initiative will be expanded further to another eight diaspora organisations, with a further fifteen on the waiting list. "Not only did volunteering give me an amazing sense of perspective" says Anisa, whose placement with AFFORD was funded by VSO, "but I was able to form some amazing partnerships that have continued now I'm back in the UK. I met some people who were involved with designing textiles while I was running the business surgery, and I'm planning to work with them in the future.

"It's clear to me from my experiences there that people don't want handouts, they want to be able to earn their own income so they can be self-reliant and look after their families. To me, that's inspiring. It's what development is all about."

For more information

• www.vso.org.uk
• www.afford-uk.org
• www.affp.org.uk
• www.thinkafrica.org
• www.africarecruit.com
• www.africafoundationstone.org

Images © Anisa Johnny