What Role Do Remittances Play In Migrant Livelihood Strategies?

Migrant remittances, defined as transfers of funds from migrants to relatives or friends in their country of origin, have become an increasingly important feature of modern economic life.

Remittances are now recognised as an important source of global development finance. They provide much sought after foreign exchange to recipient countries, while supplementing the domestic incomes of millions of poor families across the world. Three factors explain the growing importance of remittances:

• Remittance flows are now the second largest source, behind foreign direct investment, of external funding for development countries
• Remittances are one of the least volatile sources of foreign exchange for developing countries
• Remittances are expected to rise significantly in the long term.

From a livelihoods perspective, policy and institutional reforms have a significant role to play in removing barriers in formal banking systems that restrict access by the poor to appropriate financial services. Livelihoods perspectives can help to explore the flow of remittances on entry, for example between urban and rural areas and at the micro-economic level. They might also provide a framework for understanding the linkages between macro level shocks on remittance volumes (e.g. war, currency volatility) and micro level livelihood vulnerability and coping strategies.

Recently, the role of remittances in crisis has been under investigation. The importance of remittances in the survival strategies of people affected by crises, how crises affect the regular patterns of remittance receipt and the ways in which people re-establish remittance networks during and following crises is being explored by research institutes such as the Overseas Development Institute and others. The collection of papers below under the Role of Remittances in Crisis aims to explore the role that remittances play in the livelihoods of people during emergencies.

International organisations, bilateral donors and non-government organisations are taking initiatives to better understand the nature and scope of migrant remittances and to identify ways of maximising their development impact in countries of origin.

Examples include:

• the UK government's ‘Sending Money Home’- the first survey of money transfer products -
• Second International Conference on Migrant Remittances and
• First International Conference on Migrant Remittances as
• Working Together with the Diaspora: A New Direction for International Development Cooperation?

Below is a collection of papers, newsletters and organisations investigating the role of remittances in development. Send your insights, experiences and views on remittances and migration by email to:
livelihoods-connect@ids.ac.uk

				More Papers on Remittances
				The Role of Remittances in Crises
				The Impact of International Informal Banking on Canada: A Case Study of Tamil Transnational Money Transfer Networks (Undiyal), Canada/Sri Lanka. Rudhramoorthy Cheran, Sharryn Aiken. Law Commission of Canada and York University’s Nathanson Centre. 2005. PDF NEW
				Remittances in Conflict and Crises: How Remittances Sustain Livelihoods in War, Crises, and Transitions to Peace.Patricia Weiss Fagen with Micah N. Bump. International Peace Academy. February 2006. PDF NEW
				Remittances in crises: a case study from Pakistan.ODI. 2006. PDF NEW
				Livelihoods, Migration and Remittance Flows in Times of Crisis and Conflict: Case-Studies from Darfur, Sudan. Helen Young. ODI. 2006.PDF
				The Role of Remittances in Crisis: An Aceh Research Study.Treena Wu. ODI. 2006. PDF
				Migrant Remittances in the Context of Crisis in Somali Society: A Case Study of Hargeisa. Anna Lindley. ODI. 2006. PDF
				Remittances in Crises: A Haiti Case Study. Patricia Fagen. ODI. 2006. PDF
				Remittances in Crisis: Sri Lanka After the Tsunami. Priya Deshingkar and M. M. M. Aheeyar. ODI. 2006. PDF
				The Role of Remittances for Poverty Reduction
				A collection of Papers, and Presentations from the Second International Conference on Migrant Remittances HTML NEW
				Close to Home: The Development Impact of Remittances in Latin America Pablo Fajnzylber and J. Humberto López. World Bank. 2007 PDF
				Cutting The Lifeline: Migration, Families And The Future Of Kosovo (European Stability Initiative. 2006) HTML
				Remittances: A Lifeline for Development (Dilip Ratha, Finance and Development, December 2005, Volume 42, Number 4. IMF) HTML
				Do Workers’ Remittances Promote Financial Development? (Reena Aggarwal, Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, Maria Soledad Martinez Peria. World Bank. 2006) PDF
				UK Remittance Market (The UK Remittances Working Group) PDF
				Sending Money Home to Africa and Asia (An ICM survey for DFID . London. July 2006) HTML
				What are the Economic Implications of Migration Remittances? ( Ratha, D.; Shaw, W.; et al. in Prospects for the Global Economy - World Bank 2006) HTML
				Between a Rock and a Hard Place: North Africa as a Region of Emigration, Immigration and Transit Migration (Martin Baldwin-Edwards. Forthcoming in Review of African Political Economy-2006) PDF
				Joint Conference on Remittances 2005. Remittances and Poverty Reduction: Learning from Regional Experiences and Perspectives Papers and presentations available. HTML
				The Development Dimension of Migrant Remittances (Ninna Nyberg Sorensen. Danish Institute for Development Studies. 2004 PDF
				Migrant Remittances as a Development tool: The Case of Somaliland (Peter Hansen. Danish Institute for Development Studies. 2004.) PDF
				Migrant Remittances as a Development Tool: The Case of Morocco (Ninna Nyberg Sorensen. Danish Institute for Development Studies. 2004.) PDF
				Sending Money Home: Can Remittances Reduce Poverty? (id21 Insights 60) HTML
				Transferencia de remesas y desarrollo (InterCambios Año 5 N°53) HTML
				Synthesis Study:A part of the report on Informal Remittance Systems in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries (Frank N. Pieke/ Nicholas Van Hear/ Anna Lindley, ESRC Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) / 2005) PDF
				Till to tiller: Linkages between international remittances and access to land in West Africa (FAO / Livelihood Support Programme Working Paper Number 16 / 2004) HTML
				Transnational Networks and Migration from Faryab to Iran (Elca Stigter / Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit / February 2005) PDF
				Cooperation, remittances, and kinship among the Hazaras / Guerres et migrations: reseaux sociaux et strategies economiques des hazards d'Afghanistan (Allsandro Monsutti / Iranian Studies 37(2): 219-240) Table of contents and Preface in French HTML
				Beyond Remittances: The Role of Diaspora in Poverty Reduction in their Countries of Origin (Kathleen Newland with Erin Patrick / Scoping Study by the Migration Policy Institute for the Department of International Development / 2004) DOC
				Understanding the Implications of Migration for Pro-poor Agricultural Growth (Priya Deshingkar / Overseas Development Institute / 2004) DOC
				The Impact of remittances from Zimbabweans Working in South Africa on Rural Livelihoods in the Southern Districts of Zimbabwe (France Maphosa / The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) / 2004) DOC
				Migration, Return and Socio-Economic Change in West Africa: The Role of Family (Richmond Tiemoko / Sussex Centre for Migration Research / 2003) PDF
				Xawilaad: the importance of overseas connections in the livelihoods of Somali refugees in the Dadaab refugee camps of Kenya’ WPTC-02-14 (Cindy Horst, Amersterdam Research Institute of Global Issues and development Studies AGRIS – InDRA) PDF
				Remittances as Unforeseen Burdens: Considering Displacement, Family and Resettlement Contexts in Refugee Livelihood and Well Being (Stephanie Riak Akuei / PhD Candidate/ Department of Anthropology, University College London) PDF
				Access to Financial Services in South Africa: A brief case study of the effect of the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations (Hennie Bester / Prof Louis de Koker/ Ryan Hawthorne / Genesis Analytics Ltd. / April 2004) Doc
				Informal Remittances from the UK: values, flows and mechanisms (Michael Blackwell / David Seddon MICHAEL /ODG Norwich / 2004) (PDF) 1MB
				Migrant Labor Remittances in Africa:Reducing Obstacles to Developmental Contributions (Cerstin Sander / Samuel Munzele Maimbo / Africa Region Working Paper Series No. 64 / 2003) (PDF)
				African Families, African Money Bridging the Money Transfer Divide: A study on the South African money transfer (Environment for FinMark Trust / 2003) (PDF)

				Migrant Remittances - A newsletter of the Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project, USAID/DFID
				July 2007 Vol 4. No. 3- Worldwide Trends in International Remittances PDF NEW
				April 2007 Vol 4. No. 2-  Worldwide Trends in International Remittances PDF
				January 2007 Vol 4. No. 1 Worldwide Trends in International Remittances PDF
				October 2006 Vol 3. No. 3 Global Remittance Trends and Innovative Projects that Harness Remittances for Community Development PDF
				August 2006 Vol 3. No. 2 News on Remittance Flows Based on New Research from Germany, Serbia, and the United Kingdom PDF
				May 2006 Vol 3. No. 1 Migrant Associations’ Role in Assisting Members with Remittances PDF
				December 2005 Vol 2. No. 3 Money Transfer Service Fees— It’s a Jungle Out There PDF
				August 2005 Vol 2. No. 2 Microfinance Providers in the Business of Money Transfers PDF
				April 2005 Vol 2. No. 1 Improving Access to Remittances through Technologies PDF Spanish PDF
				November 2004 Vol. 1 No. 2 Domestic and Intra-regional Remittances PDF
				August 2004 Vol. 1 No. 1 Remittances PDF

				Organisations Working on Remittances
				ACCION International - fights poverty through microlending
				Asian Development Bank (ADB) - is a multilateral development finance institution dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific
				Asian Migrant Centre (AMC) - focuses on Asian migrant workers' concerns. Three main programme areas: Information, Migrant Empowerment, Public Education and Advocacy
				Consumers International (CI) - defends the rights of consumers through empowerment and campaigning
				ERCOF - aims to advance Philippine progress by advocating the sustainable development of rural economies
				Ford Foundation - strives to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation and advance human achievement
				International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) - aims to promote sustainable migration policies and to act as a service exchange for governments and organisations
				International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) - mobilizes resources for programmes that alleviate rural poverty and improve nutrition
				Institute for the Study of International Migration - the Role of Remittances in Crises. NEW
				Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance - dedicated to the promotion and implementation of Islamic finance
				International Labour Organization (ILO) - seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognised human and labour rights
				Inter-American Dialogue - engages leaders from across the Americas in efforts to develop and mobilize support for cooperative responses to key hemispheric problems and opportunities
				International Orgnisation for Migration (IOM) Migration Policy and Research Programme (MPRP) -has been set up to take a stronger leadership role in the intellectual debate and provision of policy guidance on migration issues, and to promote co-operation and co-ordination of efforts in the field of international migration
				Kabayan Migrants Services Foundation - goal is to prepare migrant workers for their return to their countries and help create small enterprises at home
				Migrants Rights International -the independent global monitoring body focusing on the human rights of migrants
				Overseas Development Institute - the Role of Remittances in Crises.
				Oxfam -find lasting solutions to poverty, suffering and injustice
				OECD -helping governments tackle the economic, social and governance challenges of a globalised economy
				Opportunity International -is committed to solving poverty by providing loans and basic training in business practices for the poor
				Remesas- a focus on remittances to Latin America and Maghreb in Spanish.
				UNDP -advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life
				World Council of Credit Unions -introduced International Remittance Network (IRNet) that provide union members an electronic funds transfer service
				World Health Organisation -objective is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health
				World Savings Bank Institute (WSBI) -disseminates information, organises training and exchanges of experience and encourages savings banks to participate in development projects launched by international financial institutions

		Comments:

Send your insights, experiences and views on remittances and migration by email to:
livelihoods-connect@ids.ac.uk

Please mention your name, tel, fax, and institutional affiliation in your contribution and give it a short title. If you wish to comment on an existing item or theme please also mention its title in your contribution. If you think there should be a new theme, tell us.