Chisinau – On 8 October 2021, representatives of different international organizations, government agencies and national experts attended a workshop to initiate and present the pilot-testing of an innovative methodology for measuring the economic impact of diaspora beyond remittances in the Republic of Moldova. The participants had the opportunity to share their experiences in using the data reflecting the economic contributions of diaspora, the current status in this regard, the good practices, challenges and opportunities in collecting such information, as well as to explain how the collection of this data can improve the policy making, monitoring and evaluation.

IOM presented its methodological guidance for measuring the economic impact of diaspora beyond remittances and inspirational case studies that reflect countries’ experiences in capturing and using data on transnational communities’ economic contribution. There was also space for discussing roles and prioritising concrete actions to support the design, adaptation and implementation of innovative tools to systematically collect data. Also, perspectives were examined for setting-up a national coordination structure for the exercise, such as the National Task Force, to facilitate the coordination of data collection efforts across ministries, departments, the private sector and data collection frameworks in Moldova.

The Deputy Director General of the National Bureau for Statistics in Moldova, Iurie Mocanu, stated: “Our Bureau uses data from different sectors because this migration processes have different impacts on several areas that affect directly the families in Moldova.”

Joanne Irvine, the Program Coordinator at IOM HQ, said: “I am delighted to support this initiative and guidelines regarding the diaspora, as the overall goal of the program is to maximise the potential of migration to really help the governments and the countries we work with to achieve their sustainable development goals.”

In his concluding marks, IOM Chief of Mission to Moldova, Lars Lonnback, stated: “There is still a lot of work to do in order to progress and collaborate with the agencies in Moldova. There are areas where we can make connections with this very important detailed information that we would be gathering throughout the following months.”

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