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Closing the Distance: How Governments Strengthen Ties with Their Diasporas
 Edited by Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias
This book explores how developing-country governments have institutionalized ties with emigrants and their descendents. It offers an unprecedented taxonomy of 45 diaspora-engaging institutions found in 30 developing countries, exploring their activities and objectives. It also provides important practitioner insights from Mali, Mexico, and the Philippines. Contributors include: Kathleen Newland, Director, Migrants, Migration, and Development and Refugee Policy programs, MPI; Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, Associate Policy Analyst, MPI; Patricia A. Sto. Tomas, Chairman, Development Bank of the Philippines and former Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment, Government of the Philippines; Badara Aliou Macalou, Minister of Malians Abroad and African Integration, Government of Mali; and Carlos González Gutiérrez, Consul General of Mexico in Sacramento, Calif., and former Executive Director, Institute of Mexicans Abroad, Government of Mexico.
Table of Contents and Foreword | US Orders | International Orders
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Protection through Integration: The Mexican Government's Efforts to Aid Migrants in the United States
By Laureen Laglagaron
Immigrant integration remains largely an afterthought in US immigration policy discussions and the country's integration policies remain chronically underfunded and limited in scope. Local and informal actors such as families and community-based organizations have historically taken on this responsibility. However, as this report explores, new partners are emerging. Mexico's efforts to help its migrants succeed in the United States offer a new example of an immigrant-sending country looking to improve its emigrants' lives and connect with its diaspora. The report examines the evolution of Mexico's approach to its migrants and details the activities of Mexico's Institute of Mexicans Abroad (IME) in a first-ever attempt to map the expanding range of IME educational, health care, financial, and civic engagement programs.
Download Report | Press Release | Listen/Download Event Audio
Learning
by Doing: Experiences of Circular Migration
 By
Kathleen Newland, Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, and Aaron Terrazas
Increasingly, policymakers are considering whether circular migration could improve
the likelihood that global mobility gains will be shared by migrant-origin and
destination countries alike — as well as by migrants themselves. This MPI
Insight examines the record of circular migration, both where it has arisen naturally
and where governments have taken action to encourage it.
Download
Report | Press Release
Purchase a hard copy at the MPI bookstore: US | International
Hometown
Associations: An Untapped Resource for Immigrant Integration?
 By
Will Somerville, Jamie Durana, and Aaron Matteo Terrazas
Hometown associations, the organizations that immigrants create
for social, economic development, and political empowerment purposes,
play an important – and
underexamined – role in immigrant integration. Though policymakers focus
chiefly on the associations’ development potential, this
MPI Insight recommends cooperative interventions to strengthen
their immigrant integration capacity.
Download
Report | Press Release
Purchase a hard copy at the MPI bookstore: US | International
Protecting Overseas Workers: Lessons and Cautions from the Philippines
By Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, MPI, and Neil Ruiz, Brookings Institution
Insight, September 2007
The Philippine case highlights the importance of meeting the
core needs of overseas workers without overextending the government’s
capacity; establishing political, administrative, and financial
transparency and accountability; and effectively using government
resources.
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Governments, multilateral agencies, and development specialists have recently rediscovered the connections between migration and development. Increasing volumes of research are focusing on the actual and potential contributions of migrant communities to sustainable development or the reduction of poverty in their countries of origin.
The findings have not been systematically translated into policy guidance, however, and important topics remain underinvestigated. One result is that little coherence is to be found between the development policies and the migration policies of governments in either countries of destination or countries of origin. Since 2004, MPI has begun to address the paucity of policy analysis in its newest program area: Migrants, Migration, and Development.
MPI is deeply engaged in efforts to encourage a multilateral discussion and exchange of experience through the September 2006 UN High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Development and the Global Forum on Migration and Development, which was the main outcome of the September meeting. MPI staffs the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Migration and Development, Mr. Peter Sutherland. For the first Global Forum, in July 2007, MPI is organizing workshops on the two main substantive issues to be discussed: remittances and the human capital implications of migration. MPI will also cooperate with the conveners of the second Global Forum in 2008.
In the coming biennium, MPI’s work in migration and development will draw out the policy implications of a voluminous and rapidly expanding body of literature — much of which is primarily theoretical or descriptive — and evaluate whether it implies a major revision of conventional understandings of migration-and-development linkages.
A second strand of work will produce new research findings on diaspora engagement in countries of origin (through such mechanisms as foreign direct investment, technological innovation, and private philanthropy) and on the migration-related development policies of countries of origin as well as donor countries and institutions. We will also emphasize the critical role of broader macroeconomic conditions that may support or undermine the development potential of particular migration policy
interventions. The macroeconomic impacts of remittances are very poorly understood and thus will be a major focus of work in this area.
In conjunction with its research and analysis, MPI will convene policy discussions with important stakeholders, in particular policymakers, to discuss and vet the research agenda and our findings in relation to the specific circumstances of their own countries and institutions.
More on MPI's policy
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SPECIAL ISSUE ON MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT:
This Special Issue brings you a fresh look at this hot topic, from Mexico's experience to remittances in India to the link between temporary worker programs and development. Plus, Source authors examine hometown associations, health-care workers in the United States, and migration issues in Ecuador. The Source's first Special Issue on Migration and Development in 2003 also includes articles from globally renowned experts.
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Variable Impacts: State-level Analysis of the Slowdown of the Growth in Remittances to Mexico
By Aaron Matteo Terrazas
Fact Sheet No. 19, September 2007
In 2006, Mexico received an estimated $24.5 billion in remittances -- 11.3 percent of the total $276 billion in remittances worldwide. While migrant remittances to Mexico grew an average of 19.1 percent annually between 2003 and 2006, however, they increased by just 0.6 percent in the first half of 2007 compared to the first half of 2006. A new MPI fact sheet provides a first look remittances to Mexico by state for 2003 to 2007, highlighting the states that may be most severely affected by a slowdown in money coming in from migrants abroad in the first six months of 2007.
English | Español | Press Release
MPI's Kathleen Newland and Dovelyn Agunias
contributed the following papers to the Global Forum on
Migration and Development, held in Brussels, Belgium in
July 2007:
 Leveraging Remittances for Development
By Dilip Ratha, The World Bank
June 2007
In 2006, recorded remittances sent home by migrants from developing countries reached $206 billion, more than double the level in 2001. The true scale of remittances, including unrecorded flows through formal and informal channels, is believed to be even larger. Dilip Ratha looks at the growing importance of remittances and their impact on development. He lays out a four-part international remittances agenda including (a) monitoring, analysis, and projection; (b) retail payment systems; (c) financial access of individuals or households; and (d) leveraging remittances for capital market access of financial institutions or countries.
 The Phenomenal Rise in Remittances to India: A Closer Look
By Muzaffar A. Chishti
Policy Brief, May 2007
India’s remittances have skyrocketed in the past 10 years, jumping from $2.1 billion in FY1990-1991 to $24.1 billion in FY2005-2006. India captures 10 percent of global remittances, making it the single largest recipient in the world. Muzaffar Chishti examines the factors behind this surge, from economic reforms to migrants’ shift to higher-skilled jobs. He finds that while remittances exceed total government expenditures in health and education, the Indian government has not instituted any policies specifically aimed at increasing remittance flows. Looking forward, the most significant factor in remittance and investment flows may ultimately be how Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) perceive the Indian economy, and the challenge for the government will be leveraging inflows of NRI capital for broader socioeconomic development.
 Circular Migration and Development: Trends, Policy Routes, and Ways Forward
By Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias and Kathleen Newland
Policy Brief, April 2007
Circular migration, the temporary or permanent return of migrants to their countries of origin, is seen as offering benefits to countries of migrant origin, to destination countries, and to migrants themselves. The most common policy route to encourage circulation has been to ensure that migrants maintain ties with their countries of origin, by providing financial incentives to return or by enforcing strict measures to prevent their remaining permanently in destination countries. Experience from many countries shows that this conventional set of policies has not, and in all probability will not, work on its own. Effective circular migration arrangements call for policies that strengthen ties to countries of both origin and destination. An environment that helps migrants to reach their goals—as manifested for instance by accumulated savings, newly acquired skills, and successful business ventures—is most likely to foster temporary or permanent return.
 Remittances and Development: Trends, Impacts, and Policy Options -- A Review of the Literature
By Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias
September 2006
This report provides a comprehensive overview of the current academic and policy literature on remittances. Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias explores questions such as who sends and receives remittances, how much is remitted, methods by which remittances are sent, and what motivates migrants to send money home. She also delves into the ongoing debate on the impact of remittances on development, going beyond a discussion of economic impacts to include political and social implications. The report reviews existing policy initiatives on remittances and emphasizes the still enormous challenges in making these programs work for development.
From Zero Sum to a Win-Win Scenario:
A Literature Review on Circular Migration
By Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias
September 2006
This report looks at the policy implications of new research findings on the developmental impacts of circular migration. It highlights new research on how diasporas relate to their countries of origin and reviews policies intended to encourage circular migration, including temporary worker schemes, and the hotly contested issues surrounding them.
Migration and Development Publications| All MPI Publications
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