The Blueprint for Action, developed as a collaborative effort of the Remittance Community Task Force (RCTF) members, contains concrete measures, actions and relevant examples deemed useful for spurring the recovery and the resilience of one billion people involved in remittances in the post-COVID-19...

A key issue in the area of remittances is enabling financial services for remittance payouts in rural areas. Postal services which have strong postal networks in particular in rural areas can be a key opportunity for this. The Universal Postal Union and IOM partnered on a pilot project with the...

Specific projects on reducing remittance costs have been implemented in Burundi, Tunisia, Sudan, Zimbabwe (2016-2019) including advocacy with government and other stakeholders on the need to reduce remittance transfer costs. 

During COVID-19 digital literacy is important to bring migrants into the mainstream financial system. IOM has been involved in a range of financial literacy programs aimed at addressing migrants and their family’s financial wellbeing and improving knowledge of the financial gains arising from...

Led by Canada, Jamaica, and the UN Secretary-General, the initiative identified remittances as a key topic for engagement and repositioning within the UN Financing for Development Framework because of the pandemic. In particular, Discussion Group I focused on “External Finance, Remittances, Jobs and...

Over 40 members including international organizations, inter-governmental bodies, industry and private sector groups, networks of diaspora organizations and international experts on remittances, joined forces on 24 March 2020 under IFAD leadership, in response to the call by the UN Secretary General...

In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 crisis, UNCDF sought partners to respond to the increased challenges faced by migrants and their families to send and receive remittances. The goal of this initiative was to ensure that migrants and their families are supported, through continued access to affordable and...

With generous support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, UNCDF migration and remittance programme is focused on three key areas: Improve Access, Increase Usage, and Strengthen Resilience.

Did you know that over one billion people on earth either send or receive remittances and that 50% of the half a trillion dollars sent home by migrant workers every year goes to rural places?

Join the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to recognize the fundamental contribution...

The coronavirus pandemic has caused remittances back into Senegal to dry up as COVID-19 has taken grip and lockdown measures have affected the migrant workers who normally send the money from mostly European countries such as France, Italy and Spain.

Remittances represent more than a quarter of Nepal’s economic output; The pandemic means migrant workers have swapped the risk of death or injury at work with the reality of poverty and homelessness; Financing a shift from subsistence to commercial farming could help prevent food shortages and...

The coronavirus pandemic highlights the need for better cooperation over migration; Bangladesh has offered incentives to encourage expatriate workers to send their money through legal channels; Public bodies and remittance services providers must improve access to digital solutions.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is home to 10 percent of the world’s entire population of internally displaced people – the largest such situation in Africa, with an estimated 5 million people. The DRC also hosts more than half a million refugees and asylum seekers from neighboring...

The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously disrupted African economies, including the vital flow of remittances. To respond to these worrying developments, the Ethiopian government is pursuing policy reforms to stabilize its economy as well as formalize remittances to keep them flowing for its vulnerable...

Debt and indebtedness are central to the lives of South-East Asian migrants. Indebtedness can motivate the need for migration; migrants regularly use loans to finance costly cross-border moves, and the remittances migrants send home are often used to repay household debt. There is a need for a...

This article presents statistics and comments on recent developments relating to international remittances in the European Union (EU). It refers in particular to personal remittances according to the concept of the Balance of payments and international investment position manual (BPM6). The data...

The socio-economic importance of the money sent home by Myanmar’s migrants working abroad cannot be overstated. Remittances serve to diversify and smoothen household income and are particularly critical to strengthening the financial resilience of women and rural populations. The pandemic of...

The Columbo Process is a a Regional Consultative Process on Overseas Employment and Contractual Labor for Countries of Origin in Asia which builds on existing institutions and collaborations at the regional level. A key thematic priority area within the Columbo process is Promoting Cheaper, Faster...

Building on existing institutions and collaborations at the regional level, countries with a remittance interest have set up working group to focus on remittance transfers, legislation, policies, technical assistance to governments and cooperation on specific migration corridors or on a regional...

Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, many migrants were already part of marginalized and vulnerable groups experiencing economic hardships in their countries of origin and host communities. Lockdowns and business closures have exacerbated the precarious nature of their livelihoods.