On 8 November 2023, UNU-MERIT will host the webinar “Afghan Diaspora Remittances: A Lifeline for Families”. This webinar, presented by Nasrat Sayed, will investigate Afghan diaspora remittances, which are a lifeline for families and (potential) contributors to development in Afghanistan. This is a seminar based on work done for the South Asia Migration Report (SAMR) 2024, which will be published early next year. Both social and financial remittances at collective and individual levels by the Afghan diaspora will be discussed.
SAMR is published by Routledge every three years, reporting migration themes in South Asian countries. The SAMR editor is Professor S. Irudaya Rajan, who is the Chair of the KNOMAD (The Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development) World Bank working group on internal migration and urbanization.
This event will be held via Zoom webinar. For updated information and webinar registration, visit the UNU-MERIT website.
About the speaker
Nasrat Sayed is a researcher at the Faculty of Law and School of Business and Economics of Maastricht University. In September 2021, Nasrat, together with Assistant Prof. Lilian Tsourdi, won an Hestia research grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) which is aimed to enhance the integration of excellent researchers with a refugee background in Dutch academia. As part of this research grant, Nasrat is currently working on the external financial governance of EU migration funding.
He was previously involved in various projects at Maastricht University/UNU-MERIT including: The Mapping and Study of Afghan Diaspora (DRC); The Mapping and Study of Pakistani Diaspora (GIZ); Connecting Diaspora for Development (IOM); Fluctuations in Migration Flows on the Balkan Route (WODC); Monitoring and Evaluation of InfoMigrants (FMM); and Afghan Diaspora Engagement for Sustainable Development (Cordaid).
Nasrat has published articles in the Journal of Innovation Management, Economic Alternatives, and Migration and Development.
Alongside his research activities, Nasrat has also tutored different courses such as qualitative master thesis track, research design, introduction to migration studies, migration and citizenship, migration and development, and migration policy.
He holds an MSc in Public Policy and Human Development with specialization in Social Protection Policy and Migration Studies from Maastricht University/UNU-MERIT and an MSc in International Cooperation Policy with specialization in Development Economics from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) in Japan.
Before joining Maastricht University/UNU-MERIT, Nasrat was working in Afghanistan as a researcher with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) and Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA).
Nasrat’s main research interests include migration, diaspora studies, financial governance, refugee entrepreneurship, innovation, foreign aid, rural development, and anti-corruption.
Read Nasrat's personal migration story here.
