Thanks to his commitment to improving agriculture and employment in his home country, Andrew Bamugye won the 2020 Ugandan Diaspora Agribusiness Investor Award, a joint initiative between FAO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uganda and the Uganda Agribu

The term diaspora, derived from an ancient Greek word meaning ‘to scatter about’, refers to individuals and members of networks who have left their countries of origin but maintain links with their homelands. Many countries, and even continents, have a long history of internal and international migration. In Africa, about 32 million migrants moved within and beyond the continent between 1990 and 2015.

While living abroad, diaspora communities can actually be a potent force for development for their countries of origin, not only through remittances but also through the promotion of trade, investments, research, innovation and knowledge or technology transfers between their current host country and their country of origin.