social remittances: key agent in migration and development martine cassar officer in charge iom...
TRANSCRIPT
SOCIAL REMITTANCES: KEY AGENT IN MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Martine Cassar
Officer In Charge
IOM Malta
IOM Worldwide Presence
…………..
Regional OfficesSpecial Liaison OfficesAdministrative CentresCapacity Building Centre
Country Offices
• 132 Member States;
Research and Training Centre • More than 460 Offices in 130 Countries
• 97% posted in the field
• + 7,250 staff
IOM
3
IOM works in the four broad areas of migration management:
Migration and development Facilitating migration Regulating migration Movement, emergency and post-crisis
migration management
IOM
4
The basis for IOM’s work in migration and development can be found in its Constitution, which states that “migration may stimulate the creation of new economic opportunities in receiving countries and that a relationship exists between migration and the economic, social and cultural conditions in developing countries”.
IOM
5
IOM currently implements migration and development projects under three project types:
Economic and Community Development; Remittances; Skills Transfer, Capacity-Building and Return
Projects.
Migration: Impact on Development
6
Positives Economic gain - remittances, investment etc. Labor market and employment opportunities abroad (enhanced
mobility of labor force) Migration can empower women/other groups Impacts on social institutions - origin & destination countries Migrants as development agents (human, social capital, skills,
fostering innovation, progress and advancement)
Diaspora as a source for economic and social development
Return (brain circulation) can maximize developmental impacts of migration by transfer of skills
Equalizing effects on income of origin countries
Migration: Impact on Development
7
NegativesBrain-drain (loss of human capital, including highly qualified specialists); Social: torn families, children left behind, weakening the social protection systemInflation impact on economy/pressure on currency exchange rateIncreased inequality/disparity in incomesCreation of a “tradition of migration” Irregular migration harms inter-state relations
Remedy
A comprehensive migration policy needed at the national level, supported by appropriate legislations and implementing mechanisms
The Importance of Social Remittances
8
Social remittances are the ideas behaviors, identities and social capital that flow from receiving to sending country communities.
The role that these resources play in promoting immigrant entrepreneurship, community and family formation, and political integration is widely acknowledged.
The Importance of Social Remittances
9
Remittances are valued monetarily, but also socially, culturally, and morally (Fuentes, 2012)
Remittance sending is shaped by “transnational identity” (Levitt, 2007) and the networks that the transnational identity gets formed within.
Remittance is “gendered” (International Migration of Women, 2010) and shaped individually by the way women and men understand and have control over it
“Social remittances are an under-utilized development resource that have the potential to be purposefully harnessed to improve socioeconomic outcomes in both sending and receiving countries.” (Levitt, 2005: 6)
Types of Social Remittances
10
There are various types of social remittances:
Normative Structures Systems Of Practice Social Capital
Types of Social Remittances
11
Normative structures
Ideas, values, and beliefs Norms for behavior, notions about family responsibility, principles of
neighborliness, community participation, and aspirations for social mobility Ideas about gender, race, and class identity Values about how organizations should work, incorporating ideas about
good government and good churches and about how politicians and clergy should behave.
Types of Social Remittances
12
Systems of practice are the actions shaped by normative structures
Household tasks Religious rituals Political and civic groups Organizational practices such as recruiting and socializing new members,
goal setting and strategizing, establishing leadership roles, and forming interagency ties
Types of Social Remittances
13
Social Capital is based on the values and norms
Social and political leaders can sometimes harness the status they acquire in the host country to advance their cause in the homeland
Decreases in migrant social capital are also register
Mechanisms of Transmission
14
Migrants who return to live in or visit their communities of origin
Individuals who visit their friends and family in a receiving country
Through letters, videos, e-mails, blogs, and phone calls
Through internet or television
Collective Social Remittances
15
Social remittances are also harnessed collectively
Sometimes migrants and non-migrants organize separate organizations, partnering with whatever group best furthers their specific project goals.
Collective social-remittance exchanges reinforce a respect for the rules and laws that migrants observe in the receiving states and change ideas about planning, development, and progress.
Migrant members support sports and cultural activities because they grow accustomed to these and they see them as a way to keep families together, help youth, and nurture new talents.
The impact is dependent on the broader economic and political context
Migrants as catalyst of positive change Experience of a fairer, more organized and more equitable political system Raise demands for a different kind of politics Enact change
Change status of migrant and non-migrant women Changed gender roles, new perspectives on involvement in
communities
Improves socioeconomic indicators Health, education, and class status are not
merely local but transnational developed (Levitt, 2005:6)), and racial relations are reconsidered (promotion of more communication and tolerance between groups?)
16
16
THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOCIAL REMITTANCES & OTHER DIASPORA RESOURCES TO DEVELOPMENT
Potential role of the diasporas
Sharing of know-how and innovative practices through transnational networks
Knowledge of the local context in origin countries and the in the destination country
Networks and contacts in origin and destination countries
Transfer of skills, technology and ideas
Transfer of new values, expectations, ideas and social capital
New techniques and transfer of human capital Donation of technology Virtual transfer of skills
17
17
THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOCIAL REMITTANCES & OTHER DIASPORA RESOURCES TO DEVELOPMENT
The potential role of diaspora members in peacebuilding
Provide a lifeline to relatives, e.g. Haiti, Somalia Support reconstruction efforts
Key message: This role could be explored and strengthened further
see UN SG 2009 report on
“Peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict“
18
18
THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOCIAL REMITTANCES & OTHER DIASPORA RESOURCES TO DEVELOPMENT
D I
A S
P O
R
A
R E S O U R C E S
HUMANC U L T U R A LS O C I A L &
ECONOMIC
IOM 3Es STRATEGIC APPROACH
19
Introducing negative models
20
20
COSTS OF SOCIAL REMITTANCES
21
21
POLICY IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
22
22
POLICY IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Main policy directions of the Government
To create effective mechanisms for management and monitoring of migration flows
To improve the knowledge and capacity of migrant workers and their families to channel and use their remittances
To improve the linkages of the Government with Diaspora To improve remuneration of labour and a continued increase of state
guaranties in this area To promote voluntary return migration and reintegration programs To promote mobility of labour force/circular migration
23
23
POLICY IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Policies required to enhance the productive use of remittances
Engaging Diaspora in homeland development Implementing migrant outreach policy, stimulating confidence about
homeland and building migrant partnerships Improving data on remittances by expanding and improving remittance
data collection practices, research, analysis, and policies
