The Venezuelan diaspora, the largest in Latin America, with 9 million people, a third of its population, spread across 90 countries, represents a “New Geography”. Citizens and their transnational organizations highlight the inadequacy of the State.
Official diplomacy, subordinated to the political and ideological interests of the ruling elite, runs counter to the “public diplomacy” exercised by the diaspora and its organizations. More than 1,300 organizations share values and principles, and their actions define the “Diaspora Governance Strategy” and the future character of the foreign service.
Faced with the void left by “official diplomacy”, transnational diaspora organizations have increasingly assumed the responsibility of caring for these citizens, their expectations and needs, and of maintaining ties with the institutions of the country of origin.
The design of the “Governance Strategy” considers the paradigm shift that breaks with prejudices and beliefs rooted in academic and political spaces; the work of more than a decade with diaspora organizations, which includes studies and projects in areas such as entrepreneurship, communication, mental health, etc.; and the weekly television and radio meetings with these organizations on the five continents.
speakers
Thomas Paez Bravo
He holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil from University College London. He graduated in Sociology from the Central University of Venezuela, where he is a Full Professor (the highest university rank in Venezuela), teaching undergraduate courses in the School of Sociology and PhDs in Social Sciences and Innovation and Development. He has taught at universities in Colombia, Peru, the United States and Spain. He is a member of the technical team at FIM-Productivity and founder of Holos Consultores em Qualidade e Produtividade. He coordinated the Bolívar Program for Regional Technological Integration (IDB) of the Inter-American Development Bank. He served as General Director of Planning at the Ministry of Development (1989-1991) and is an advisor to companies and institutions in the areas of business strategy, quality and productivity.
He is the coordinator of the Observatory of MSMEs and Entrepreneurship (three editions), a founding member of the International Institute for Entrepreneurship Training (INFOEM) at the Metropolitan University and a member of the team responsible for the project “Entrepreneurship and Integration of the Venezuelan Diaspora” in Bogotá, Colombia. He is co-author of the course developed with Babson College, “Training of Entrepreneurs, Multipliers and Teachers in Entrepreneurship”, taught in 9 Latin American countries, and co-author of the study Entrepreneurship and informality in Venezuela.
He is a member of the Advisory Board of the World Association of Science and Technology Parks, director of the Sartenejas Technology Park (Simón Bolívar University) and advisor to CONICIT (the institution responsible for Science and Technology in Venezuela) in the creation of the three Venezuelan technology parks.
Since 2013, he has coordinated the Venezuelan Diaspora Observatory (ODV) Project and the first global study of the Venezuelan diaspora (in its third edition, published by Unión Editorial Colombia, 2021). Author of numerous articles on the diaspora, including The role of the diaspora in the reconstruction of Venezuela (Occident Magazine, Spain, 2019), MPI (2017); Freedom House; The Venezuelan Diaspora: Another Impending Crisis (2017); Latin American Diaspora in Public Diplomacy, published by Palgrave Macmillan (2020), among others. He is a founding member of CEDES (Centre for the Development of Citizenship and Democracy) and the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies (2022).
As coordinator of the Venezuelan Diaspora Observatory, he analyzes the distribution of Venezuelans in the world by country and region, as well as associations and organizations of the global diaspora. Since 2017, he has directed two weekly radio and television programs (on RCR750.com, a pioneering Venezuelan broadcasting station) dedicated to the diaspora: The Voice of the Diaspora and Diaspora and Environment. He is an international speaker, having given lectures in the United States, Spain, France, Germany, Colombia, Italy, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, among other countries. He is a founding member of the Global Network of the Venezuelan Diaspora.
Author and co-author of more than 20 books and dozens of articles on strategy, quality and productivity, diaspora and migration. Columnist for the newspaper The National and the portal Living Frontier. Text coordinator in the second edition Democracy and Authoritarianism in Latin America and in the third edition of The Voice of the Venezuelan Diaspora. Founding member of Free Expression, of the Hannah Arendt Observatory and member of the Academic Committee of CEDICE. He also serves as director of CEDES (Center for Studies and Development of Citizenship and Democracy).