Diaspora organizations involved in humanitarian response are often fragmented and lack coordination among themselves or with other organizations.

The Finnish Somali Society (FinnSom) provides a positive example where diaspora organizations have established coordination between themselves in their countries of residence. Learn from them in 3 steps how to set-up a successful umbrella diaspora organization:

STEP 1: Join forces for using diaspora synergies: Over 30 diaspora organizations have united under the Finnish Somalia Network. They learn from best-practice examples about access to funding or from diaspora organizations involved in specific themes, such as gender equity, education, etc. FinnSom also coordinates those activities implemented by the Finnish Somalis to avoid overlaps and measures the collective impact on the ground.

STEP 2: Get support from governments: The Finnish government has provided support to Somali diaspora organizations to collaborate together. They have a secretariat that supports the different associated groups in terms of capacity building and meeting requirements for funding. FinnSom Society has aligned its humanitarian and developmental targets with Finland’s development cooperation in Somalia and focuses on governance, justice and the rule of law, enhancing women’s and girls’ rights and the country’s own economic development.

Our recommendation would be that institutional donors and governments in countries of residence of diaspora organizations should consider supporting the formation of umbrella associations by providing small ongoing funding both for a secretariat role and joint project implementation in Somalia.

STEP 3: Organize yourself for implementation on the ground and respond more professionally: Each year three small consortia of three diaspora organizations are funded to implement various development and humanitarian programs in different parts of Somalia. This seems a vital development in terms of organizing and formalizing the diaspora response from Finland as this diaspora organization commented:

“We are 32 diaspora organizations united under the Finnish Somali Network. Capacity-wise we have a strong secretariat paid by the government that supports the organizations. Three organizations can join to work together and present their joint venture agreement and proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for funding.”