As the global funding landscape shrinks, the humanitarian sector must evolve or risk falling behind. Diaspora-led initiatives are pioneering innovative financing models that support and scale what local communities are already doing. This session will explore the role of the diaspora in supporting emergency and recovery efforts in collaboration with the private sector. We will have a closer look at Afghanistan, which continues to face one of the world’s most severe and underfunded humanitarian crises. International aid has sharply declined, yet Afghan diaspora communities remain one of the country’s most reliable lifelines.

DEMAC’s latest research on Afghan diaspora efforts during the Herat earthquake and the current forced returns from Iran, reveals that Afghan diaspora financial flows — from remittances, crowdfunding platform, zakat donations, community charities, and hawala transfers — together represent approx 2 billions of dollars annually (WB 2023). In times of crisis, diaspora organizations mobilize rapidly: raising hundreds of thousands within days to respond to floods, earthquakes, or displacement, when institutional systems often take months.

This session will present recent evidence from DEMAC’s Afghanistan research and bring together diaspora leaders and experts to explore how Afghan diaspora financing operates, its impact on communities, and how these efforts can be better recognized and supported within the global humanitarian system.