Diasporastudy Egypt
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Study and mapping of the Egyptian diaspora in Germany 1 The study was carried out by the Migration for Development programme on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Around the world, societies are changing and individuals are on the move: around 250 million people currently live outside their country of origin. This evolving situation presents opportunities for all concerned: diversity and exchange across national borders provide impetus for economic, political and social progress – both in host countries and in countries of origin. Migrants themselves play an important role in building bridges between countries. Through their expertise, ideas, experience and contacts, they stimulate sustainable change. In a variety of ways, they help their countries of origin to remain competitive, while simultaneously shaping society in their host countries. This interaction offers great potential for development. On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), we support the activities of migrants from emerging and developing countries and advise our partner countries on how to use migration to advance sustainable development. The Migration for Development programme focuses on four areas of activity: Knowledge transfer through returning experts Cooperation with diaspora organisations Migrants as entrepreneurs Migration policy advice Author: Cordula Weißköppel 2015 2 Content Introduction 4 Methodology 5 List of acronyms 6 Part I: Worldwide Egyptian diaspora with focus on Germany 7 I The concept of diaspora 7 I.I Egyption diaspora formation around the world 7 I.II Egyptian population in Germany 8 I.II.I Demographic and socio-economic dimensions 8 I.II.II Historical dimension 13 I.II.III Socio-cultural dimensions 14 Preliminary analysis Part I 17 Part II: Mapping of socio-cultural organisation among Egyptians in Germany 18 II.I Results of mapping 18 Type A. Explicitly Egyptian or Egyptian-German associations 18 Type A+. Umbrella organisations as superstructure of regional Egyptian associations 20 Type B. Overarching networks and organisations 22 Type C. Transnational networks and projects post-2011 23 Type D. Loose, informal networks of individuals 26 Type E. Explicitly humanitarian organisations 27 Part III: Conclusions and recommendations 29 References 32 List of tables 36 List of illustrations 36 3 Introduction The present study outlines the history and current situation of so that a special focus was on whether and what connections the Egyptian diaspora in Germany with special consideration to development cooperation in today’s Egypt are established of social and cultural organisations. In the period between through the various types of organisations. It asks the following February and August 2015, qualitative methods were applied question: To what extent can we identify potential for and in an attempt to examine what effects the transformations that new approaches to development cooperation through diaspora have taken place in the country of origin since 2011 have had actors? on Egyptian associations and groupings in Germany. The focus The study is structured as follows: Part I presents a more was on intergenerational and socio-cultural dynamics that shape general view of the Egyptian diaspora’s formation in Germany the current situation of the diaspora groupings. This sheds and its demographic situation. Part II provides socio-cultural light on more recent transnational network forms in particular, mapping that characterises five different forms of organisation which give the previous ‘landscape’ of associations new and illustrates them using selected examples. Part III formulates impetus because they predominantly involve circular exchange specific recommendations on how GIZ can make use of the between actors from Egypt and actors from the various migrant particular networks among Egyptians in Germany for the generations in Germany. The study was conducted on behalf ‘Migration for Development’ programme. of the ‘Migration for Development’ programme of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, 4 Methodology This study is the result of five months of research which should a stage for self-portrayal, enabling the narrator to introduce be characterised as more exploratory than explanatory given into the narrative, reflect on and evaluate biographical elements the limited amount of time and resources available. In order through the association’s history or activities. Association to reasonably capture the current situation of the Egyptian board members are often highly committed individuals who population in Germany, the author researched international in addition to their association work are also active in other and national sources and drew on the available data from the areas of civil society such as local politics, and who receive German Federal Statistical Office and the German Federal recognition for this in their social environment, for example Employment Agency relating to Egyptians living in Germany by being repeatedly elected chairperson of the board. Thus (see Part I). the study had the secondary effect of revealing how many individuals with a migrant background actively contribute to The focus of the study was on ethnographic interviews because the civil society forums of the German migrant community, establishing contacts and conducting a total of 29 interviews1 often for long periods of their biographies. The content-focused also consistently made it possible to obtain and update further evaluation hardly does justice to these dimensions of the information on associations and networks. The contact data on captured data. Consequently, it is important to point out that Egyptian and German-Egyptian associations already available interviews in migrant associations are also very revealing of from GIZ and CIM (Centre for International Migration, a individual integration strategies undertaken within the migrant working group of GIZ and the International Placement Services community. However, it is also important to bear in mind the office (ZAV) of the Federal Employment Agency) formed the limited nature of these data because they represent descriptions starting point for directing the enquiry to the declared contacts of practices and events within the associations that could (typically the presidents of the associations). The project was not be validated or supplemented by long-term participatory briefly presented in an email with relevant attachments from observation nor by short-term situation analyses. GIZ and CIM and the offer of a telephone conversation or personal interview. This first email was sent to 26 recipients, In addition to the direct interviews, three online discussion eight of whom responded directly by email or return phone call. forums were selected by Egyptians in Germany (‘German At the same time, the relevant Internet pages were researched Egyptian Organization’, ‘Egyptian German Network for and checked for currency, providing a rough impression of the Changing Egypt’, and ‘Mayadin El Tahrir’) in order to actual activities being conducted by the associations. summarise the topics of these forums within the timeframe of the study and follow them up for recurring or controversial Personal contacts and networks of the researcher2 and her debates. The dialogue and discursive texts from the Internet and student assistants3 were also used in order to find interview the analysis of their content effectively complement the core partners and obtain access to hitherto not listed organisations. data corpus compiled with the interviews. This blog analysis is Even if they mostly involved representatives of the relevant included in both Parts I and II of the study. organisation, for the methodology it must be kept in mind that individual conversations with the researcher also provide 1 The author would like to express her heartfelt thanks to all participants who contributed to this study with their interviews and information. 2 The existing contacts with Coptic-Orthodox communities in German- speaking regions stemming from the author’s previous research (Weißköppel 2011, 2013) were deliberately ignored in order to enable access to a wide range of groupings of diverse sectarian denominations of the Egyptian diaspora. The study thus omits a focus on all forms of Christian-Orthodox communities and associations that would have to be integrated in the context of comprehensive research on religious networks within the Egyptian diaspora in Germany (see Part III: Recommendations). 3 The author would like to expressly thank the student assistants for their hard work without naming them individually in order to protect their networks. 5 List of acronyms BAMF ............... Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees) BBMFI .............. Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Migration, Flüchtlinge und Integration ............................................(German Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration) CIM .................. Centre for International Migration and Development DAAD ............... Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service) GIZ ................... Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH IOM .................. International Organization for Migration MENA ............... Middle East and North Africa MfD .................. Migration for Development ZAV ..................