These are but a few of the questions we seek to provide an answer to. Mapping the diaspora thus becomes a necessary step towards more informed and transparent policies, policies that ought to mirror the interests and aspirations of those abroad. 

Moreover, with regard to policy making, we aim to transform the traditional rapport between public institutions and the diaspora, replacing a rigid  patronage system with an ethical framework, anchored in meritocracy, competence and norms. 

Reforming the interaction between state and the diaspora ought to be premised on different types of communication, access to public resources, and an altogether different exchange with those who seek to represent us. This process should be based pn transparency and openness, including but not limited to monitoring and evaluating diaspora engagement policies and strategies. Good governance should also encompass and reflect the diaspora.  

From our mapping effort by creating a solid and rigorous knowledge basis regarding the diaspora , which is also aimed at informing policies, another scope would be to maximise the Romanian communities’ influence and relevance. By actually implementing the tenets of this vast research we seek to increase the diaspora’s transnational impact and influence across host countries, as well as in Romania. 

Maximising the organisational capacity of diaspora associations, generating coalitions of mutual support within host  countries, better and more diversified access to funding, and targeted cooperation amongst organisations, all these may prove transformative in the not so distant future – actuating a diaspora whose global voice and presence are to be reckoned with.