Episode 42: Migration and development: the evolving nexus - global insights from Sonial Plaza

The Migration & Diaspora Podcast

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, with me your host, Loksan Harley from Homelands Advisory - your independent migration agency.

Today, we've got a true rockstar of the migration and development field, Sonia Plaza, on the show to share her insights and lessons learned from a long and distinguished career working for the World Bank in the field of migration, remittances and diaspora engagement.

About Sonia

Sonia Plaza is a Senior Economist in the Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice of the World Bank. She is also the co-chair of the Diaspora Thematic working group of KNOMAD (Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development).

Originally from Lima, Peru, Sonia advises many universities on the transfer of skills and tapping into their diasporas. Sonia attended the University of Lima and earned a degree in Economics, after which she joined Chase Manhattan Bank, and was then invited to join the Peruvian Ministry of Trade as a manager responsible for counter trade and debt swap agreements.

She has a dual degree from Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania in International Economics and Development. She was Professor of Economics (International Economics) at the Peruvian School of Foreign Service and at the University of Lima in Peru, and was adjunct faculty (Microeconomics and Macroeconomics) at The American University in Washington, DC.

Migration and development: The evolving nexus

Sonia has been involved in so much of the top-level research and evolution in thinking regarding migration and development that I was curious to share with you both her and the World Bank's priorities on migration, as well as her personal insights regarding how global discussions have evolved over the past decades.

I particularly loved how she is able to connect a broader global World Bank perspective and strategic thinking on migration and development, with the specifics of different projects at the country level. We close with Sonia's top three tips for simple things any government can do to boost the developmental impact of migration.

As always, thank you so much for tuning in. You can find our entire catalogue and show notes for this podcast at homelandsadvisory.com/podcast. And without further ado, sit back and enjoy the show.

Links

• Connect with Sonia / Follow @plazasonia
• Leveraging Economic Migration for Development: A Briefing for the World Bank Board
• Migration and Development: A Role for the World Bank Group
• Groundswell Part 2 : Acting on Internal Climate Migration
• KNOMAD: The Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development
• The World Bank
• You may also like: Episode 17 on M&D, Episode 19 on wage theft
• Check out all our episodes and subscribe at homelandsadvisory.com/podcast!