ENGAGEMENT POLICIES IN FAVOUR OF TRANSNATIONALISM: THE EXPANSION OF TRANSNATIONAL CITIZENSHIP WITHIN COLOMBIAN EMIGRANTS

Abstract Communities of nationals living abroad are attracting the interest of sending countries, which are paying increasing attention to the way in which emigrants connect with their origin and the potential benefits of it. Focusing on the case of Colombia and analysing the initiatives under the Colombia Nos Une Program, this article examines the role that the proactive attitude of institutional actors is playing in the potential engagement of migrants with their country of origin and the creation of a transnational citizenship. Colombia, as a sending country, is looking at their emigrants in an attempt to take advantage of their economic and human capital in order to improve its development through networks of knowledge, entrepreneurship and socio-cultural initiative. An increasing knowledge of the way policies of origin are implemented and the impact they have on the migrants’ lives will give a more comprehensive framework to understand the effects of a transnational life and to conceptualize a transnational citizenship.