Diaspora humanitarians: how diaspora communities respond to humanitarian crises

During humanitarian crises, diasporas often contribute vital support to the survival and reconstruction of their communities of origin. This ‘diaspora humanitarianism’ reshapes the international humanitarian system, but its scope, modality and impact remain understudied, partly due to the ‘invisible’ nature of diaspora interventions. This paper expands the understanding on the how and why diasporas engage in humanitarian responses, by examining survey data on the responses of six Australia-based diasporas to a range of crises (i.e. sociopolitical crises, military conflicts and disasters). Our findings demonstrate that diasporas’ contributions focus on the household level, present gender-differentiated patterns and vary according to the nature of the crises. While our data reveal a ‘coordination gap’ between diaspora communities and the humanitarian sector, these communities are keen to cooperate with other actors. These results unveil not only the strengths and challenges of diaspora humanitarianism, but potential avenues to integrate it to the humanitarian system.