The act of sending money (remittance) by migrants to their countries of origin during their migratory process represents a development tool for their communities. The workshop has been held this week to explore this issue more deeply: “How to incorporate remittances and Diaspora involvement in development policies”, on the island of Saint Lucia.
Workshop in Santa Lucía
The workshop, organized in collaboration with the Secretariat of the OECS (Organization of Eastern Caribbean States), was held within the framework of the project entitled “Strengthening the dialogue and cooperation between the EU and LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean) to establish management models on migration and development policies”
This programme is financed by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the IOM (International Organization for Migration), in close collaboration with its partner, The International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP)
Representatives of the public sector, the private financial sector and the diaspora of Barbados, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica and the OECS participated actively in this workshop, whose main objective was to present and debate strategies and mechanisms for strengthening the use of remittances for the purpose of maximizing their use as a development tool in the communities of origin.
A study conducted by Adams Bodomo, a Ghanaian professor of African Studies at the University of Hong Kong, shows, for example, that a 10% increase in international remittances results in a 3.5% reduction in poverty in the migrants’ countries of origin.
The activity, which consisted of theoretical and practical sessions, was designed using a participative methodology with the aim of encouraging an exchange of experiences in different countries.
Over the course of this year, the ideas, methodologies and proposals generated in this workshop will be implemented in various pilot projects in some of the beneficiary countries.
